The Return
by emackenzie
Summary: Ebony, Bray and Lex were all taken by the Techno's.  A year has passed and the tribe has gone in different directions, can they save their friends, are they still alive?
1. Chapter 1

This is the Third and final part of Lost Love.

* * *

><p>It had been over a year since the mallrats had left the city, since any of them had been in the city, and since they had been the mallrats. After the loss of three of their greatest members, the tribe couldn't seem to hold themselves together. Time pasted slowly, and Amber, B.J., Pride, May, Danni, Johnny, Trudy and Brady returned to the Eco-Tribe. The others stayed at the farm, unsure of what to do without their leaders.<p>

Over the months at the farm, things started to come together. They were able to keep tabs on how far along the Techno's were coming in the city, by the effects it had on the farm. Three months after the invasion, the power came on, followed shortly by the water. It was refreshing to have running water again. Ved and Jay were able to map out the things that would happen next, most of it they kept to themselves, no one wanted to hear about the Techno's.

Somehow, and no one really wanted to know how, KC had brought back a cow, horse and a few chickens after one of his weeklong searches of the land. This helped keep enough food around for all of them. Alice's farm had never been able to support so many mouths before. But with animals and a garden, food wasn't something they had to worry about any longer.

Two days after the return, as they now referred to it, Ellie gave birth to a girl. She named her Lucie. It was amazing to everyone to have a baby around. It reminded them of the miracle of life, giving them all some form of peace of mind.

Ellie bonded quickly with her daughter, and over time it started to show that Ellie, being a single parent in this new world, was making her an adult, in all eyes but Alice's. She would always be Alice's little sister.

Also due to Ellie's motherhood came a friendship that no one expected, even Ellie herself. Her and Cloe grew close over Cloe's own pregnancy and Ellie was even able to except Jack as being nothing more than a friend to her.

By the end of spring that year, there was another new baby on the farm. Cloe had a boy, and Jack finally found the perfect name, Aden.

Salene was amazed at how natural being a parent was for Cloe. She could still remember when Cloe and Patsy would babysit Brady.

Cloe's friendship with Ellie had prepared her for becoming a mother, as well as an adult. And the love between Jack and Cloe only seemed to be growing over time. They were often still flirty and shy around each other, their passion was visible to everyone, and they were just as passionate when they would fight.

After the first winter, Mackenzie and her children left the farm along with Ved, while she dealt with the guilt she had. Ved went along with her, scared about what would happen to her or her kid's if he wasn't there to protect them. While the four were gone for months, their friendship seemed to grow and deepen, and when they returned to the farm they both insisted that they were only friends for the time being.

Mackenzie still refused to allow either Honesty or Lane out of her sight, and when she couldn't be with both of them, Ved was. She trusted him whole hearted with her whole world.

She often still looked at the sky and thought of home, and Stephanie. Not a day went by without her thinking of her missing best friend, and hardly a day went by without a thought of the others. She still greatly blamed herself for the breakup of the mallrats. But she found it was easier on everyone not to mention those that were taken, especially on Jay.

To Ved, Jay never seemed the same after they got back from the city. He didn't seem to have his great passion for a better world for all, but just for those at the farm. For short periods he would often visit the others at the Eco-Tribe, but as his duties at the farm grew greater, the less time away he had. Together him and Alice managed the farm and worked as co-leaders. But when things were slow at the farm his thoughts would often travel to the city, and to the last image he had of Ebony, walking away from him, telling him he was just another name. His heart felt as though it broke every time he thought of her. He wanted to return to the city, to see what had become of everyone, if they were still alive, but he knew it was unwise for him to go into any Techno controlled area. He had also made a promise not to go back into the city.

Tai-san seemed to deal with the loose of Lex well. No one ever saw her cry, or even tear up. But just because they didn't see it, didn't mean that it never happened. On the inside it was hard for her, each day seemed to be a struggle of emotions she couldn't control, but she never showed the weakness of her emotions. She would meditate and kept up with her old ways, making herbal remedies for something and keeping herself busy with the problems and emotions of others. She too, often thought of returning to the city, but like Jay never mentioned it. She started to help Salene when it came to the education of the younger tribe members. She taught them about the four yoga's of Buddhism and in the early morning she could always be found doing yoga with the sunrise. This was her way of finding peace within.

"It's been 370 days." Tai-san said to Jay late one night. "Since I have seen Lex."

"It feels longer." Jay sighed looking at the tea she had made for him. He wasn't much for her herbal teas.

The late night conversations the two had were always the same, a recap of their days, something funny that had happened, and a memory or two they wanted to share. But tonight's was different.

Tai-san placed herself in a chair facing the doorway into the kitchen. "Jay, you are the only one I can talk to about this." She said in a hushed voice, watching the doorway and not him.

He understood she wanted to talk about the Techno's immediately. He leaned forward, to be closer.

"Do you think they are still in the city?"

"The Techno's still have control over the city, as for the others…" he trailed off because he wasn't sure. No one knew for sure what happened to them.

"I want to go into the city." Tai-san said simply not looking scared that Jay would be mad, or even the least bit upset. This was something that she had thought about for a long time, and had waited to do until she felt the timing was right, and Jay could see that.

Jay sat back in his chair and looked at her. He had wanted to return since they left. He never felt right about leaving, but now he wasn't sure he would be able to go back. He had made a promise to Amber, a promise he couldn't break.

"I'm not asking you to come with me." Tai-san said glancing at him and then setting her eyes back on the door. "But I thought that someone should know where I am going. I do not know when, or even if I will return."

"What will you do once you get there?" Jay wondered.

Tai-san looked back at him, as though she was surprised by something he had said. "I am going to find out what happened to my husband." She said, thinking the answer should have been obvious to all.

"You can't just walk back into the city. It's all sectioned off. You don't have clearance to go from one section to another, let alone even be in any section." Jay told her thinking about the bar code bracelets he helped Ram create.

"I will go to the Keeper first, I know I will be safe there. He can help me." Tai-san told him about her plan, she had thought out a way to get into the city and back to the mall.

Jay was impressed. This wasn't something she had just thought of, but something she had been thinking about for months. It was well planned, and she seemed to know the loop holes of the system almost as well as he did. He could now remember why he once thought she would be important to the Techno's.

"The city seems calm. This is the time to go back." She told him.

"I don't think you will like what you find." Jay warned her.

"No one knows what I will find, so there is no way of knowing if I will like it or not." She reminded him. "If I go in, expecting the worse I cannot be disappointed."

"You are right, the best way to avoid disappointment is to expect a letdown." He sat thinking about what she was going to do. "When will you leave?"

"In the morning. I will tell everyone I am going to the Eco-tribe to visit." She paused when she heard a noise in the living area. "If I don't return, you can tell the others what has become of me."

"I wish you luck and safety." Jay told her become someone came through the doorway.

"Am I interrupting something?" Alice laughed coming in with a silver pail bucket dripping and sloshing water on the floor.

"No of course not, Alice." Tai-san smiled at her.

"Let me help you." Jay said getting up and offering to take the heavy bucket from her.

"I'm a big girl, I can hold my own." Alice said pushing past him, with more water sloshing out of the bucket. "I am going to scrub down the kitchen, that you can help me with."

"I will leave you to your work." Tai-san bowed slightly before existing out of the kitchen.

"What is she planning?" Alice asked Jay after Tai-san was out of ear shoot.

"Nothing," he replied, "She wanted to know what I thought about her going to the Ebo-tribe for a few days.

"The Eco's huh?" Alice said as Jay moved the tables. "I guess she could use a few days off. Clear her head, you haven't been in awhile either."

"Yeah." Jay said hoping she couldn't tell it was more than that.


	2. Chapter 2

Mackenzie woke up in a cold sweat. She looked to her right, Honesty was still asleep, and on her other side Lane was as well. This meant that she hadn't been screaming in her sleep. It was an improvement. Things seemed to move slowly at the farm, time moved slowly. She could still remember watching at Ebony fell to the ground, Ved pinning her to the wall, unable to help her friend.

She crawled out of the soft bed, careful not to wake the sleeping children. The wood floor was cold, the whole room was cold. She smiled down at Ved as he pulled the covers back, his eyes still closed. It was so much roomier and somehow warmer laying next to him.

"Was I screaming?" she whispered, pulling the blankets over her head, wrapping herself in the warm of his bed.

"No, I just haven't fallen asleep yet." He replied with his eyes still closed. "You're shaking."

"Sorry." She sighed trying to regain control over her body. She felt like she could do that once his arms circled around her waist, pulling her right next to him.

He was laying on his side, so he was able to put his chin on her shoulder and his lips on her neck, below her ear. "You have nothing to be sorry about." He whispered. Their conversation was hard to have, with two sleeping kids just feet from them.

"Thank you." She yawned back at him, smiling. She was safe with him. He had proven that to her over the long months they had been away from the farm, and the city. She was silent for a long time before speaking again. "I want to go back to the city. I see us going back to the city."

"I don't know if it's safe enough yet." He told her.

"I don't think I care anymore. I would rather be able to sleep at night, than wait for it to be safe to go back. We need to go back." She rolled over onto her side and looked and him, his eyes finally open.

"I knew this was coming." He sighed.

"It's been months Ved, I can't keep going on like this."

Ved sighed and pulled her over next to him, tangling their legs together, and pressing his lips on her forehead. "What about Honesty and Lane? You want to take them back into the city."

"I can leave them here. They will take care of them here, they will be safe." The panic she felt when she couldn't see them rose up, making her throat tight. She doubted that she could hide it from him.

Ved smiled at her. "You wouldn't be able to make it longer than an hour. The moment you couldn't see the farm house anymore you'd have to turn back."

"I'm going to have to. Honesty and I have already talked about it."

"You talked about this with a nine year old, before talking to me?" he asked, almost angry.

"I wanted to know how she felt, if I were to go back, and see." Mackenzie said smoothly, she knew he wouldn't like to know that she was already planning this.

"We aren't talking about this anymore." Ved sighed letting his hold on her loosen. "Try and go back to sleep."

She kissed his cheek and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She knew that he was angry, but she was exhausted. Sleepless nights, the nightmares, and the fear, they were all things that wouldn't go away, all things she needed to deal with. And the only way she could do that, was by finding the others.

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

"Enjoy your time there. Give everyone our love!" Alice said brightly, hugging Tai-san.

Tai-san smiled at her friend and nodded her head. She wore a long cloak that had been brought back from the Eco-Tribe. It was to ensure their safety when travelling from the farm to the tribe. But Tai-san knew that it would ensure her safety in the city just the same, it would engulf her in the heavy fabric and keep her face hidden. She looked around at everyone else, there was no sign of Jay.

"Don't stay to long!" Alice said patting her back.

"I'll try to hurry back." Tai-san smiled. "Good bye everyone." She said before turning and heading towards the country side, she could go in the direction of the Eco-Tribe before heading towards the city. She couldn't glance back over her shoulder, not even for one last look, because she knew that it could be just that, the last look. She hadn't gotten far when she heard someone running behind her.

"Wait!" Jay shouted. He slowed down when he caught up to her. "If you're really going to do this, you'll need my help."

"But the others." Tai-san said looking at him. No one would know what happened to them if they didn't come back.

"I told Ved. He needed my help to think of a way to keep Mackenzie from wanting to go back." Jay told her, knowing he had his own reasons for going back.

"Thank you." Tai-san smiled. "I hope to make it to the Zoo before sunrise."

"We should be able to manage that if we move quickly." Jay smiled at her as well. They were going back to the city, back to find the others.

Ved sat watching as Mackenzie brushed Honesty's long hair, each section going back into a curl as soon as it was lose from the brush.

"Did you talk to Ved?" Honesty asked.

Mackenzie paused what she was doing, looking back at Ved, unsure of how he was going to react. "Yeah, we talked, a little."

"So are you going back to the city?" Honesty wondered.

"No." Ved said getting up from his bed, and going over to sit behind Mackenzie. "We aren't going back to the city."

"But my mom said," Honesty started.

"Honesty, no one is leaving the farm." Ved said taking Mackenzie hand. "That's final."

Mackenzie sighed and looked at Ved. She glanced over at Honesty and then looked down at Lane, who was playing with a toy truck on the floor. "Take your bother downstairs." She whispered. She didn't like sending them to places she couldn't see them, but she needed to talk to Ved, without them.

Ved watched her, surprised, shocked. This wasn't something that she did often. In fact he could only remember one time in the last year she had not been able to see them both.

Honesty shrugged her shoulders, and took her brother out of the room

"I have to go back there." Mackenzie said when the children were gone. "I will go with, or without you."

"You aren't going." Ved said taking her hands, and pulling her closer to him. "If I tell you something, you have to swear not to speak about it to anyone, even Honesty."

"You're keeping secrets from me?" Mackenzie asked quickly, looking down at their hands.

"Jay and Tai-san are going back to the city today." Ved smiled at her. She was so silly when she thought he was trying to keep something from.

"But they said-" Mackenzie stopped short when she understood. "They don't want anyone to know what they are doing."

"No, and if they don't come back before the others from the Eco-tribe come, I am going to tell them." Ved glanced out the window.

"Do you think it'll come to that?" Mackenzie whispered.

"I hope not." Ved said pulling her into a hug. "Jay won't do anything stupid. They will come back, and they will have news of the others. I'm sure."


	3. Chapter 3

Tai-san pulled the hood of her cape back and pulled the poster off the wall in front of her. It read, Local Security Marrying Queens sister. There was his face, the one she had only seen in her dreams for the last year. He was smiling at a girl, a girl she remembered from when they were taken, Ebony's sister. She couldn't make sense of the poster, but she wondered if Jay would be able to explain something. She rolled it up and kept it inside her cape, pulling her hood back up, and going back towards the Zoo. She only dared to travel so far from the zoo.

"I don't understand, did he give up trying to get away, to find me?" Tai-san wondered out loud, when she showed the poster to Jay later that night, around the fire.

"They have ways to change memory. It was a project Ved had been working on. They were trying to take away certain memories, to make it easier for others to join us, for those that resisted. But we never saw it perfected, my guess is that they finished it without us." Jay said looking at the picture, reading the title over and over. "We need to find out who the Queen is."

"I'll ask Keeper in the morning." Tai-san nodded looking at the poster, trying to accept what Jay had told her. Did she really believe that someone could erase parts of their memory, erase her from her husband's memory?

"His memory can't be gone, it's no perfect science, we can still bring him back." Jay said picking up on her thoughts and feelings.

"Tomorrow we move in, they are announcing something tomorrow. I need to see him, even if it's from afar." Tai-san leaned back against the cages bars. They had been staying in the zoo from over a week, and slowly collecting information on the Techno's and their friends.

"It will be easier to get through the sections tomorrow, they will want everyone there, and not just to watch something on the broadcast." Jay nodded in agreement. This was their best way to get in closer.

WMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Tai-san and Jay stood side by side, the hoods of their capes up, keeping their faces somewhat hidden, fear that a guard would notice them.

The large area in front of the mall was filled with people, much talk, shouting and excitement filled the air. The city was different, it was clean, running, and slowly looking the way it had before. There were shops that were fixed up, people going in, and it seemed they were hardly going out. Jay had told Tai-san about the paradise game the Techno's were known for.

"Where do you think they are?" Tai-san asked, unsure of where this announcement would take place.

"There." Jay said pointed to the area of large trucks and many masked guards. "Let's see how close we can get." They moved through the crowd of people quickly and swiftly, staying as close together as they could.

"Do you think they know about the passages in the mall?" Tai-san wondered, for a second, thinking about how they could get into the mall, how she could get to Lex.

"Don't even go there." Jay looked over at her, knowing she couldn't see his eyes, protected by his hood. "They have been here for a year, they know more than we do I fear." He looked back towards the guarded area when things started to move. "We stick to the plan, if we see them, and it's safe, we can remove the hoods."

"It's your safety we're worried about." Tai-san said knowing she wouldn't wait for him.

They were both taken back by the sudden screaming excitement in the crowd, both looking at the truck, to see who could cause that reaction.

Tai-san gasped, unsure of what sort of reaction would be right. Bray and Ebony, hand in hand, smiling and waving at the crowd.

Jay could feel his stomach flip when he saw her. She looked just as amazing as she remembered. Her long braids curled, and tinted with red, the red line painted across her eyes, and the Techno T on her forehead.

"Thank you, thank you." Bray said, his voice booming through the speakers hidden among them. The sound of his voice created another scream of excitement, from the females in the crowd. "Ladies, please, my lovely Queen." He pulled Ebony over and kissed her. That seemed to make the crowd go even wilder.

Jay felt his stomach drop. This wasn't what he was expecting, almost a polar opposite.

"Our news today isn't regarding us." Ebony spoke, the crowd grew silent. "My sister has chosen a husband, one of our own." She turned back and waited for her sister to join her side. Siva stood, looking like Ebony did, but she wore the Techno uniform.

"I remember her." Tai-san said, fighting back the tears that stung her eyes.

"You have seen the poster I am sure." Siva spoke smiling at the people in front of her. "But he is here today, to be introduced to you all for the first time as my future husband." She turned back and watched as he walked up and took his place next to her. This again, made the crowd excited.

"Thank you." He said waving his arm high at everyone.

"My sister has decided to make her wedding a public display, something for all to attend, in real life. Lex is a man of this city, and we want to keep our ties to all of you." Ebony smiled.

Tai-san pulled her hood back, letting it fall behind her. The air was cold on her face.

"Tai-san." Jay said looking over at her, panicked. He looked back at the stage, and at the guards, trying to watch for any sign of them being spotted.

"The ceremony will take place in the gardens, and everyone is welcomed to come." Siva said. "Tomorrow early afternoon, please join us."

Jay watched, he knew that Bray was watching them. He figured they stood out, wearing the long wool capes from the Eco-Tribe. But he was scared that he would send the guards. He watched as he whispered something into Ebony's ear, and she turned to look at them, he took his chance to pull his hood back as well, to stand next to Tai-san, hoodless and unprotected on the enemy's territory. But Ebony only shook her head and smiled back at nothing really, just the people.

"That is all we have to announce today, we look forward to tomorrow." Ebony said before turning, hand in hand with Bray and away from Jay and Tai-san.

WMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

The two stayed in the area in front of the mall, for what seemed like hours, watching at the people as they went on with their lives, trying to take in all the information they had just received. Their hoods were back on, but not for the purpose of concealing their faces, just to protect it from the cold air. They were sitting on the sidewalk, on the other side of the mall.

"We shouldn't stay here much longer." Jay said breaking the silence that lay between them.

Tai-san didn't say anything, she just rose to her feet and waited for him. When the two turned away from the mall and started to walk down the street, someone called out after them.

"Wait!" the voice said, loudly, and rushed.

They could both feel their hearts jump, and froze for a split second, what if someone had recognized them? They turned slowly, keeping this heads down, and faces covered.

"I didn't mean to scare you." The male voice spoke closer this time. "I have been watching you from the mall, since the announcement, and I had to speak with you before you left."

They raised their heads, and meet the glances of Bray. Behind him they saw masked guards close, ready to raise their arms at the first sign of trouble.

Tai-san pushed her hood back, and shook her head, signaling for Jay to keep his on. "We're sorry if we weren't allowed to sit there."

Bray laughed lightly. "You can sit where you like, that's not why I wanted to speak with you."

"We were just leaving, and would like to make it back to our section before nightfall." Jay said, unsure if they should make a run for it, or if they were done for.

"I understand that. But please, I just need a moment." Bray told them. "Your cloaks, where did you get them?"

"These?" Tai-san asked looking down at the gray wool that covered her.

"Yes, I have one, almost just like this, but I don't know where it came from." Bray smiled.

"We made them." Tai-san said unsure of what the meaning was. "They are old, from before the city was under Techno control."

"I figured as much." Bray sighed.

"They come from a tribe called the Echo's, they were allies of the mallrats." Jay said, using those words for a certain purpose, to see, hoping it would cause some sort of reaction, remind him of something, anything.

"I am a mallrat." Bray said holding his hand out to show the blue paint. "But I don't know either of you, or this other tribe."

"You're a mallrat?" Tai-san asked bringing her hand up to her chest, covered by the cape.

"Of course, I am the King of the city." Bray looked at her, almost as if she was crazy. This was information that she should have known, everyone in the city should have known.

"Bray, you have to remember something." Tai-san whispered, looking at him with pleading eyes. "Amber, your sons, the real mallrats, Zoot, you have to remember."

"Tai-san." Jay said quickly putting his arm out, pushing her back away from him.

"Excuse me?" Bray asked blinking, stepping back as well.

"We need to go, now." Jay said not even looking back at Bray, he just pushed Tai-san away and forward. It wasn't seconds later that the two of them broke into a run.

WMWMWMWMWMWMW

"How could you do that? He could have had us killed, right there on the spot." Jay shouted at her.

"My husband is marrying another woman tomorrow! I am not going to wait around anymore and try to figure out how to bring them back. I have to do something!" Tai-san cried, tears staining her cheeks, her make-up ran.

Jay threw the apple in his hand at the wall behind him. "We shouldn't have gone there today. It was stupid and reckless of us."

"Well it's too late now. Now you need to figure out what you're going to do." The Keeper's wife said.

"There is nothing we can do. We could have triggered his memory, we could have just signed our death sentence." Jay said shaking his head. "I didn't even think to look for camera's, but I am sure they had them. If Ram was watching, we will be dead."

"You know they have no force on us here. The only reason we are friendly enough with them is because of Ebony." The Keeper spoke up. "We also have reason to believe that Ram is gone at the time being."

"Gone?" Jay asked looking at them. He thought about it for a second. "Of course." The poster announcing the marriage had gone up over night, and wedding was tomorrow. This was Siva chance to marry. "She wouldn't be able to do this, if he was here. Most of the trained guards are gone. They are invading another city, they have to be."

"What does that mean?" Tai-san asked.

"That means you're right. This is our chance to get into the mall, we know our way around, and I know how they fight, I use to train them." Jay smiled as the plan started to come together in his head. He looked down at Tai-san and smiled. "Get your cape, this could be our only chance to act." He watched her turn and leave. "We're going to need your help." He looked at the Keeper, and told him what he needed, explaining his plan, and listening to Keepers suggestions as well.

"They haven't eaten in a while, I'm not sure if it's wise, but I will make it work." He laughed, took his wife's hand and left Jay standing there.

"You're going to remember, I promise that much." He said looking down at the fire.


	4. Chapter 4

"There was something about them." Bray said watching Ebony change. "I am sure I knew them." He couldn't get those faces out of his mind, or the names the girl had spoke. Amber, Zoot, Amber, Tai-san, the words kept running through his mind.

"Bray, we have been in this city for so long, of course they looked familiar, we could have dealt with them in the past, before the Techno's came, think about all the faces you saw when you passed out the antidote." Ebony sighed looking back at him. She didn't want to mention that she too thought they looked familiar, she thought that it would only make it harder for him to forget. "Can you think about something else?" she asked turning to look at him. Her clothes tonight consisted of a see though black and red lace number she had made.

Bray smiled at her, watching as she came towards him. "Is this what you had made for your sister?" he asked biting on his tongue a little, trying to control his thoughts.

"I thought it looked better on me." Ebony laughed crawling into the bed with him, kissing his chest on her way up.

"I think it's going to look even better on the floor." Bray said pulling her to him and kissing her with desire. But there kiss was stopped when their bedroom door came flying open, and the guard that stood outside, fell lifeless to the floor.

"Amateurs." A male laughed from outside the door.

Bray pulled Ebony off him, and behind him, protecting her, and covering her.

"You've got to be kidding me." Ebony sighed pulling the blanket up to cover her.

Jay and Tai-san stepped over the lifeless body and into the room, the room that had Ebony and Bray, half naked in bed together.

"You two!" Bray shouted.

"I could kill you now." Jay said taking in the sight, raising his wrist to reveille the zapper.

"No." Tai-san said calm pushing his arm down. "If you could quickly get dressed, we don't have a lot of time."

The two did as they were told, but never taking their eyes off the hooded figure.

"Keeper is going to meet us by the swings with Lex." Jay informed Tai-san.

She nodded and looked back at Ebony and Bray. "We don't want to hurt you, and we won't, if you just listen to us. We even promise to let you go unharmed. I wish we could say the same about your guards." She looked down at the body and thought of the animals they had brought with them.

"Keeper? You are friends of the Zoo keeper?" Ebony asked pausing.

"Please, we can answer your questions later." Tai-san nodded. "Follow me." She said walking out of the room, Jay bringing up the back.

"You know about the sewers?" Bray asked, as they made their way through them. "How?"

"We have thirty seconds before the cameras are back on. We need to hurry." Jay said counting in his head. Time was running short, and they still had to get out of view of the cameras. His announcement made them walk faster.

"We aren't going to make it." He said as they climbed up the latter to the swings.

"We're close enough, we can go around, into the woods, it will be longer, but safer." Tai-san said as he reached the surface.

"Ebony!" Lex shouted, running to her side. "What is going on?"

"That's what I would like to know." Ebony said looking over at the hood figures and then Keeper and his wife. "Keeper, is this how your treat your friends?"

"This, my dear Queen, is how I save my friends." He smiled at her. He turned to face the hood figures. "I know what you have asked of me for tomorrow. We will leave now, back to the zoo, we hope to see you before you return to the others."

"Thank you." Jay nodded at him.

"Send our regards to Mackenzie and her children. When the city is safe again, we hope to see them." Keeper's wife said, before the two of them, and their lion disappeared into the dark.

"Mackenzie?" Ebony whispered looking back at the hood figures. "Mackenzie." The panic and worry flooded her face before she even had a chance to know why.

"She is fine Ebony, she made it out of the city, and she got her kid's back thanks to you, all three of you." Jay said wanting to reach out to her.

"We told you, we aren't going to hurt you." Tai-san said looking at them. "Please, just follow us, and listen to what we have to say, and then you may go." She wanted to run to Lex and hug him and kiss him at that moment, but she knew she couldn't do that.

The five of them walked in silence for an hour, into the woods close to the mall, until they came to a small stream.

"We want answers." Lex said stopping.

"Who are you?" Ebony asked.

"How did you know about the sewers?" Bray wanted to know.

"We would like to build a fire first, could you please help gather wood?" Tai-san asked, Jay still with the zapper raised.

When the fire was built and bright enough Tai-san and Jay stood by each others side and looked at their three friends. They removed their hoods and waited.

"You were at the announcement today." Lex said pointing to Tai-san.

"I am a mallrat." She held her hand out, and showed them the blue amulet, the one each of them had on their hand as well. "That is how I know about the sewers."

"How is that possible, we don't know you?" Ebony said looking at her. She glanced over the Jay and felt her heart give a tug.

"You know me, you just don't remember." Tai-san spoke softly. "There are a lot of things you don't remember. Things were removed from you memory when the Techno's took control of the city."

"You have a wedding ring, are you both mallrats then?" Bray asked looking at her hand and up at her.

"We are, but we are not married. I am married to someone else, but he was taken from me." Tai-san looked over at Lex. Her and Jay and agreed that they couldn't just come out and tell them, neither of them were sure how it would effected their memories.

"You're name, he called you Tai-san today in front of the mall." Bray said studying the girls face, looking for something.

Lex let out a large breath at the sound of her name, one no one knew he was holding. "Tai-san." He whispered taking a step back away from her, and looking at her face. Parts of memories came flashing into his mind, her smile, a white dress, black sheets, baby names, her eyes.

Tai-san looked at him, with worried eyes, not sure what he was remembering, or even if he was remembering anything.

"I'm-" he said putting his hands to his head and sitting down on the ground.

"Lex, are you okay?" Ebony asked crouching next to him, her hand on his shoulder.

"It's me." He said looking up at her, and over at Ebony.

"What are you?" Ebony asked.

"I'm her husband." He whispered, still taking in the flashes he was seeing.

Tai-san sighed in relief. He remembered her. She could feel the tears sting her eyes again. She sat down in front of him and smiled, reaching over, and placing her hands on top of his.

"Tai-san." He said looking at her, confused.

"I have waited 382 days to hear you say my name." Tai-san said smiling through her tears.

"I don't understand, you said they removed part of our memory?" Ebony said standing back up and looking at Jay.

"What is going on?" Bray said pulling Ebony over to him.

"When the Techno's invaded the city, the mallrats where making a run for it, but we ran into many difficulties getting out, all of us, together. The three of you were taken, and I am guessing Ram had your memories modified, to make it easier to get the city kids to follow the Techno's plans. We don't know how the mind holds memories, we don't know what will trigger the memories to come back." Jay said looking down at Tai-san and smiling. He knew that even if Lex was the only one that remembered anything, it would be okay, he would be okay knowing he had brought them back together.

"So who are you?" Ebony asked, waiting.

"I was a Techno, I am the reason you are in this state." Jay said looking down at her. "I came to stay with your tribe, my brother and I, we were trying to escape the Techno's, and we almost had, until my brother went back. It's a long story, but in the end, I am the reason the three of you are still in the city, while the others are elsewhere."

"There are others?" Bray asked. "Other mallrats?"

"Yes, the whole tribe." Jay said unsure of what all he should say. "Most of them are still living together, somewhere safe, but some of them have gone into another tribe."

"The Echo tribe?" Bray asked.

"Yes." Jay nodded.

"Who is Mackenzie?" Ebony asked, remembering the name from before, but not knowing why she felt a tie to that name.

"She is a close friend of yours, you were trying to save her, and her children from the Techno's when you were taken." Jay said carefully.

Ebony thought for a minute. "The playground, we were at the playground." She whispered, she remembered being nervous and sure, Honesty and Lane, the little kids, they should have been there. She turned to Bray. "We were zapped at a playground."

"Ebony, this is crazy, how do we know it's not just a paradise memory?" Bray asked.

"Because, the taste I had in my mouth, I remember the taste." She looked at him.

"I remember it." Lex said standing up and helping Tai-san to her feet. "I don't remember all of it. There are flashes, only small things I remember." He turned and looked at Jay, really looking at him for the first time. "You, you let us escape from the mall."

"Yes." Jay nodded his head.

"Your name?" Bray asked looking at him.

"It's Jay." Lex almost laughed. "This has got to be a dream."

"Lex, please be careful of what you say. We don't know what will make them remember, or what will be too much." Tai-san said looking at him.

"But they have to remember." Lex said looking back at his friends. "Bray, Ebony, you have to remember."

"We can't force them to remember." Jay said looking at Ebony.

"Why can he remember things, but we can't?" Bray asked.

"Her name, her name brought back memories that I didn't even know I had." Lex said taking Tai-san's hand. "I saw her eyes in the morning, the dress she wore when we got married, her lips, and baby names. Do you have a baby?"

"No." Tai-san sighed, both happy and sad.

"But we were going to." Lex smiled, "I think we were trying to before everything happened."

Tai-san laughed and felt herself blush. "We were."

"All those things you told me in front of the mall. The names, they all sounded so familiar." Bray said thinking about the names again, Amber, Zoot. "They are names that should mean something to me?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean they will make you remember. We don't know what Ram did to your memories, we don't know what parts are missing." Jay said glancing over at him.

"What do you expect us to do?" Ebony asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Lex asked looking at her.

"Do you two want us to leave with you, and go back to these memories we should have? What was your point in telling us all this?" Ebony asked, she was confused.

"We hoped you would remember." Tai-san said looking at her and then at Lex.

"We have lives, pretty good ones too. Lex is getting married to my sister in a few hours, Bray and I are trying to start a family. We are King and Queen of the city, a city we helped to rebuild. What do you want us to do? Walk away from our lives?" it was easy to tell how annoyed she was now, the parts of being Ebony both Jay and Tai-san remembered were starting to come through.

"I can't get married." Lex said suddenly looking over at Tai-san. "I already am."

"Or you think you are. Lex we have no clue if the things they are saying are real, or something they cooked up in reality space." Ebony said shaking her head. "Bray and I don't remember, so what makes you think that what you remember is true?"

"Because, I've dreamt about these eyes, about this face. I remember her, maybe not everything else, but I remember my wife." Lex said putting his foot down. "It's not my fault you don't remember how much of a bitch you were, or that Bray doesn't remember his own family."

"Lex!" Jay shouted. "Please."

"The lies they made us believe." Lex laughed.

"Tai-san, take him elsewhere, calm him down." Jay said shooting her a glance.

Neither Ebony or Bray said anything. They just looked at each other, unsure of what to think, what to remember.

"I am sorry." Jay finally said softly. "We don't expected either of you to remember and to come with us. But after today's announcement, Tai-san had to do something. She couldn't watch as her husband marry someone else."

"What do we do now?" Ebony whispered to Bray looking over at him scared.

"I don't know." Bray sighed sitting down by the fire.

Hours passed and no one spoke, when Ebony had finally fallen asleep next to the fire, Bray turned to Jay.

"You wanted to kill me earlier, in my bedroom, why?" Bray asked looking down at Ebony on the ground, sleeping. "She isn't who I have my family with, is she?"

"No, I'm sorry." Jay said looking at him and wondering if things were slowly starting to piece together for him as well.

"She was with you, wasn't she?" Bray asked. He didn't wait for an answer. "I could tell, by the way you watch her." He stared at her for awhile before saying anything else. "I have always loved her."

"I have never doubted that." Jay said looking at him.

"Do you think they changed the memories we had, before the virus?" Bray wondered, more to himself.

"I don't think they would have, those memories wouldn't affect your willingness to help them." Jay looked at him. "When you do remember though, I want you to remember that you did help rebuild the city, but it was at a cost."

"I have these memories then, from before the virus, but they never connected with the ones I have now." Bray looked down at Ebony, "And she remembers the same thing, but only up until a certain point."

"What is it of?" Jay wondered. He didn't know much about the life Ebony had before the virus, in fact he didn't even know that they two were connected.

"There is a girl, with long brown hair, and a boy, my brother, maybe my best friend. I remember laughing with them, going to schools dances, classes, basketball, but I don't remember anything about them from after my parents died." Bray looked at Ebony then back up at Jay. "She remembered standing in a class room, and watching this boy, he was saying something, but she doesn't know what it was."

"Power and chaos." Jay whispered looking down at Ebony.

"Do you know what it means? What happened to him, or the girl?" Bray asked, wondering if he would get answers to all his questions.

"I am not sure if now is the time to tell you these things, I don't know what it could do to your memories." Jay sighed looking at the dirty.

"I understand. I'm going to see if I can find Lex." Bray said. "I won't be far."

Jay nodded and watched as Bray walked out of the light of the fire, the sky was started to turn orange, the sun was getting ready to come up. He went over and sat by where Ebony was sleeping.

"Why did you come back?" Ebony muttered.

Jay wasn't sure if she was awake or sleep talking. He looked over and saw that her eyes were open, looking straight ahead at the fire. He wasn't sure if she remembered, or not. "Because I had to."

"The last time I saw you, I told you that you were just another name to add to the list." She whispered.

"You remember?" Jay asked looking at her.

"I never forgot." She said looking up at him. She pushed herself up off the ground. "But that doesn't mean that I wanted you to come back here."

"I don't understand. You never forget?" Jay asked.

"When I saw you today in the crowd, I knew I knew you, your face, your eyes. I even knew your touch, and your smell. Then when I heard your voice, and Mackenzie's name, I saw her face, Honesty and Lane. I use to think that it was all just nightmares, the playground, the pain I felt. But when I saw you, I knew it was all real." She didn't look at him while she spoke, she just watched the flames. "I don't think I ever really forgot any of it, but that doesn't mean I wanted to remember any of it either."

"You don't want to remember me." Jay laughed. "I guess I should have expected that much." He watched her for a moment, unsure if he should plead with her, make her want him. "I want you to know that I didn't come back in hopes that you would remember me. I did it because of Tai-san and Mackenzie. Neither of them have been the same since we left the city, and neither have I. But I won't lie, part of me did hope."

"I've spent the last year with Bray." Ebony said.

"He has a family, sons, Amber." Jay almost whispered her name. He felt so guilty for breaking his promise to her.

Ebony snorted a laugh. "Are you trying to tell me that blondie didn't find comfort in you the first chance she got?" She looked over at him with fire in her eyes. "That is not the point. Ram may have erased my memory, but he couldn't have made me feel the things I do for Bray."

"You're right. You can't change the way a person feels." Jay nodded. "When Bray comes back, the two of you are more than free to leave." He couldn't look at her, the thought of watching her walk away, after dreaming about being this close to her, wasn't something he thought he couldn't live through. "I will ask that you spear Keeper and his followers. They were only helping us, and we tried not to hurt too many of your guard, but I can't speak for your sister's wedding."

"For someone that claims to have loved me at one time, you sure as hell don't know me very well." Ebony was angry, annoyed and hurt. She pushed herself up, off the ground, looking down at Jay.

"Excuse me?" Jay asked, unsure of what she was talking about.

"You think I can go back to living a lie? Go back and play Queen Ebony, best friend to the Techno's?" Ebony asked looking at him as though he was stupid.

"Then what do you plan on doing?" Jay asked.

"I plan on getting my city back." She kicked dirt onto the fire, putting it out.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't understand." Bray sighed looking at Ebony as they walked. It was mid morning, and they were all on their way to the farm, back to the others, the ones Bray couldn't remember.

"Maybe he has to see her." Lex suggested. "Seeing and hearing Tai-san is what made me remember, and it was the same for Ebony and Jay. So maybe you just have to see Amber."

"Jay wasn't the thing that made me remember." Ebony huffed. It was a lot of little things that pulled back memories.

"And if that doesn't work?" Bray wondered, glancing down at Ebony's hand. She hadn't let go of him the whole time they had been walking, she hadn't really said anything to him either.

"Something will work, we will find something." Tai-san assured him.

"I know you guys are tired, but we need to go faster. The sooner we are out of the city, and the sectors, the better." Jay said trying to hurry the group along. He knew that people would start getting up, and the streets would be filled soon, and the last thing they needed was being stopped with the King and Queen of the city.

When the fived reached the Zoo, Ebony, Bray and Lex stood together while Jay and Tai-san went to say their good byes to the Keeper, and to inform him of their plans.

"Is it the best plan to take them out of the city?" Keeper asked, glancing over at the three.

"Ebony and Lex remember, we need to have Bray remember." Tai-san informed him.

"I'm sure they have already seen the video's from last night. It's not safe for Tai-san or myself to be here any longer." Jay nodded. "I wish there was a way we could take them down from the inside, but at this point, we are not going to separate ourselves again. It's been to long since we've all been together."

"Then I suggest you hurry quickly back." Keepers wife smiled. "The others reported seeing a group moving towards the direction of your farm. I believe it could have been your friends."

"Thank you. We will hurry." Jay smiled before turning and leaving. He wondered if it really was the others headed to the farm. They normally don't go through such open areas.

WMWMWMWMWMW

"Where are Tai-san and Jay?" Alice asked as the others filed into the kitchen.

Amber put down her toddler and looked back up at Alice. "Aren't they here?"

"No, they left about a week ago, headed for you lot." Alice didn't understand.

"We couldn't have missed them, we left yesterday." Pride noted.

"You mean they didn't show up?" Ellie asked. The kitchen was full of bodies. Amber, baby Bray, Trudy, Brady, Pride, May, Salene, Cloe, Danni and Johnny were all packed in there.

"I don't understand." Salene said shaking her head.

It was then that Mackenzie walked into the kitchen, freezing at the sight before trying to back out.

"Hold it!" Alice shouted noticing the look on her face. "Come here." She ordered, motioning with her hand.

"There are a lot of people in here, I don't want to take up more room." Mackenzie said still standing in the doorway.

"There are a lot, but where are Jay and Tai-san?" Cloe asked looking at her.

Mackenzie bit down on her lip, looking at all the faces, worried. They weren't suppose to be there. "I am not at liberty to say."

"You are more than at liberty to say, so you best spill it now." Alice said making her way over to her, and pulling her in the room, Lane and Honesty followed in behind, each one grabbing onto Mackenzie.

"I really should check with Ved, before I say anything." Mackenzie said glancing behind her at the door, hoping that Ved didn't come in.

"Well I'm sure he wouldn't be too far away, if you three lot are in here." Alice sighed looking at her. And she was right, it wasn't even a minute later that Ved came walking into the kitchen, Mackenzie's name rolling out of his mouth.

"Hi." He said looking at all the people.

"Where is your brother?" Amber asked, almost panicked that no one was telling her where he had gone to.

Ved looked over at Mackenzie, unsure if she had already said something, but he knew that he could trust her. "You okay?" he whispered to her.

"Peachy." She said, rushing to stand by his side, the kids still holding onto her. They were both almost as unwilling to leave Mackenzie as she was to leave them.

"Where is Jay!" Amber demanded.

"That's none of your damn business." Mackenzie said looking at her. There was one thing she hadn't lost, and that was her attitude when it came to Amber and the other females in the tribe. She still had a strong dislike towards them.

"It is my business, he's in my tribe!" Amber shouted at her.

"Mommy." Lane whined pulling into Mackenzie's side more.

"They didn't want you guys to know, unless they didn't come back," Ved sighed looking over at Mackenzie, not wanting this fight to go any farther.

"They left, alone, without telling anyone?" Pride asked, with eyes getting wide.

"They told us." Ved said stepping in front of Mackenzie a little, protecting her from the others.

"Did they go back?" Cloe asked, "Back to the city?"

"No, that's not possible, Jay promised me that he wouldn't go back to the city." Amber said shaking her head.

"He didn't want Tai-san going alone," Ved said looking at Amber, unsure if she had the right to be upset over the news of his brother's whereabouts. "We have no reason to expect anything bad has happened. If they had been caught, Ram would have told the whole city, and there hasn't been a new broadcast in weeks."

"Anything could have happened to them. I can't believe the two of you didn't tell us." Alice shouted.

"It wasn't our business to tell." Mackenzie snapped back at her. "We followed their wishes."

WMWMWMWMWMW

Jay felt a sense of relief as they got closer to the farm. The smoke from the chimney was high, and he could already hear the laugher of the children. He glanced back behind him. The others were taking their time, sacred of what was going to be waiting for them at the farm. Jay had thought it best if he was the first one back, able to prepare the others somewhat, so they wouldn't overwhelm Lex, Bray and Ebony.

He could see the people in the yard stopping as they saw him getting closer. He smiled as he came to Patsy, KC and Paul.

"You're so busted." KC laughed looking at him.

"Oh my gosh!" Amber shouted, running out of the house. She ran to Jay, throwing her arms around him. "You're okay." She said hugging him.

Ebony could see Jay and Amber embracing each other. She couldn't help but roll her eyes, but smile over at Bray when she felt him squeeze her hand.

"We can get through this." Bray said looking at her. He didn't have any idea of the past he was going back too, all he knew was the girl standing next to him.

"I remember, you don't, yet." Ebony whispered glancing up at the people in front of them.

"I can't believe you broke your promise! You told me you wouldn't go back to the city. It's not safe for you!" Amber said hitting Jay in the shoulder hard.

"I made it, we were careful, and had amazing timing, I might add." Jay smiled at her.

"What you do mean amazing timing?" Amber asked unsure of what he was talking about.

"Ebony!" Mackenzie shouted running out from the barn, towards the others that were farther away.

Everything seemed to slow down. Amber let go of Jay, and stood shocked at the people walking towards them.

"Thank god." Ved whispered, watching as Mackenzie ran towards Ebony.

"Bloody hell." Alice said from the doorway, watching Lex and Tai-san, hand in hand walk towards the farm.

"Bray." Amber whispered, tears stinging her eyes.

"As I said, amazing timing." Jay smiled turning to look back at the others.


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry, if I don't get a reminder, I forget to update.

* * *

><p>"I don't understand." Pride said a few hours later as they sat in the kitchen. Jay and Tai-san had explained everything to them the best they could, with Lex and Ebony filling in parts they could, helping to see it from their side. But it was all confusing for all of them.<p>

"Ram isn't in the city." Ebony said looking at him. "Ram and Java were getting restless in the city, everything was calm, so a few months ago they started another take over. He had gone to check on the progress. He's due back in a few days, but I don't know what will happen now, now that we aren't there."

"But how did you two know that he wasn't around?" Alice asked looking at Jay and Tai-san.

"These signs went up over night. Lex was going to marry Ebony's sister Siva, she is one of Ram's prized women. So when I thought about it, it all came together. It was the only chance Siva would have." Jay said looking over at Tai-san and smiling. "And we knew that this would be our only chance to act."

"We were lucky. We got away from the city just enough to talk with all three of them. Things came back to Lex right away, and Ebony remembered too." Tai-san said squeezing Lex's hand.

"But Bray?" Amber asked her eyes on the man standing outside looking out at the country landscape. She knew the second she saw him that he wasn't the same, he wasn't the husband that had left her.

"He hasn't remembered yet." Ebony whispered looking out the window at him. She saw a different version of him. She knew that he was Amber's husband, the father of her child, but he was also her husband, they had been trying to start a family, they had been happy together, or at least she had been made to think that, the memories would flash through her mind so quickly she would have to squeeze her eyes tight to make it stop.

"My guess is that his memories were harder to erase." Ved said as he thought about it. "It's harder to erase years, versus a few weeks here and there."

"They didn't erase our memories, they changed them." Ebony said, opening her eyes slowly. She wanted to be able to explain to them what was going through her mind right now, but she didn't know how, she didn't know what words to use. "I remember things that happened, and things they made us think happened, the events are the same, but different. None of these mallrats are in the memories I had, Zoot, he was different, I was different."

"What do you mean?" Ved asked.

"It's like they rewrote it. All the things that happened to us, we still remembered them, but they happened differently, without all of you, you were replaced." Lex said looking at them all. "We still passed out the antidote, and set up a market in the mall, dealt with the Guardian, Ebony still lead the Locos. But there were less mallrats, and none of you."

"Rewrote it?" Ved asked looking at Jay. He didn't understand, that was something they had never heard of, or thought of before.

"It would make sense. All the city kids would know about the mallrats, and everything they have done. They didn't want to lose the connection. Weeks in reality space, it would be easier to rewrite their memories." Jay told him.

"So how do we make Bray remember?" Amber asked, she was anxious, and just wanted to see her husband.

"We don't." Tai-san said slowly, unsure of how she was responded to the news. "We don't know how their memory works, or what was done to it. Saying the wrong thing, could make it worse."

"But if these two remember, then can't we just do the same thing to him?" Amber asked.

"They didn't do anything to us. It was just certain words, they brought back certain memories. We still don't remember everything, there are just flashes of the truth, they are mixed in with what we thought was real." Ebony sighed standing up. "I can't leave him sitting out there." She had been watching Bray the whole time, and she knew the look on his face.

"Excuse me?" Amber asked standing up as well.

"He's my husband." Ebony said looking at him and shaking her head at what she had said. "He was my husband." She said before leaving the kitchen.

Amber looked over at Jay, horrified by what she had just heard.

"They have been together for over a year Amber, in their memories, they had been together since the virus, before even." Jay explained to her.

"But Bray doesn't have feelings for Ebony. He is my husband!" Amber exclaimed. This was something that she knew she wouldn't be able to wrap her head around.

"He doesn't remember you yet." Tai-san said slowly.

"I think we should let Ebony explain things to him." Lex said watching at the window as Ebony joined Bray. "He needs her right now, they need each other."

"You expect me to sit here and watch my husband and Ebony together?" Amber asked. "He is the father of my child."

"If you try and force him to remember, it could only make it worse." Ved said thinking about it. "I'll try and talk with him, try and see at what point they started to change things. That will give us a place to start."

"You'll need Trudy's help." Alice said looking down at him. "Other than Ebony, she's known him the longest."

"We just need to all make sure that we don't say anything," Jay said looking over at Amber. "Anything he doesn't already remember, like being a father, or your husband, or anything about his brother."

"I can't believe this." Amber sighed.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

"So these are the real mallrats?" Bray asked as he and Ebony walked around the house and barn.

"Yeah, these are the real mallrats." Ebony sighed looking forward. "Some of them don't want me anywhere near you." She laughed, turning a stone over in her hands.

"What do you mean?" Bray asked stopping and taking Ebony's hands, dropping the stone to the ground.

Ebony laughed and looked down at their hands, they felt so warm in his. "Let's just say, I am not really the girl you remember."

"I am not so sure it matters what I remember, but more of how I feel." Bray said kissing her hands and smiling at her.

Ebony gave him a small smile back. "But when you remember, you're bound to feel differently about everything that has happened."

"Do you feel different?" Bray asked continuing to walk.

"How could I not?" she whispered. "It's like a movie, or a book, everything Ram made us believe. I remember every single thing, every action, all of it. But I know that it's not real, that it never really happened to me."

"Do you feel differently about me then?" Bray asked.

Ebony sighed and thought about it for a moment. She wondered if she did feel any differently about her relationship with Bray. It was something that she had longed for so many years ago. Something she had fought for in so many under handed ways, and something she had lost. "I don't know, I've spent the last year with you, living as your wife, but remembering everything I do, it makes it hard to know what feelings are real."

Bray pulled her over closer to him as they walked. "Part of me doesn't want to remember. I would rather just go back to city, with you, and act as though none of this happened."

"Aren't you the one that is always telling me we can't run from our problems?" Ebony asked looking over at him and smiling.

"So I have to face this? These memories I don't have?" Bray asked.

"We have to try." Ebony whispered. She wondered how long this would last, how long she would be able to walk hand in hand with him. She knew that they would find a way to bring his memory back. "Jay's brother, Ved, he wants to meet with you, he wants to try and see where they started to change your memories."

"Do you think it will help?" Bray asked. He could tell that Ebony was worried, and that made him uneasy as well. He didn't like the thought of her being stressed out over something that had to do with him. He wanted her to be at peace with everything.

"Ved thinks it will." Ebony smiled. "Come on, I'll go with you."

MWMWMWMWMWMW

Bray and Ebony sat together on the couch, looking at Ved and Amber.

"I don't know if it's a good thing to have you here Amber." Ved said looking at her. He could tell that both Ebony and Bray were uncomfortable.

"I am not leaving him alone." Amber said looking at Ebony.

"Amber, please." Ebony sighed looking at her. "This is about him right now."

"And when have you ever done what's best for him?" Amber asked glaring down at her.

"She my wife." Bray said looking back at this girl, this woman he knew he should know, but didn't have any idea of who she was, or even how he knew her.

"Your wife?" Amber laughed, tears in her eyes.

"We all agreed that Bray and Ebony needed to be together for this." Ved said quickly standing up and going between Ebony and Amber. "So please, Amber, leave."

"I'm here, Tally, said it was urgent." Trudy said coming into the room. She had been in the garden all day, and this was the first time she was seeing Ebony and Bray.

"You!" Bray said quickly standing up. He pointed at Trudy. "You're hair, it used to be long."

"Bray." Trudy sighed, hugging him tightly, tears forming in her eyes. "How, I don't understand!"

"Trudy, you can't say anything." Ved said reminding her. When the two parted and Bray sat back down next to Ebony, Ved started. "You remember Trudy?" he asked.

"I didn't remember her name, just her face." Bray said looking at the girl. "Before the virus, we were at the same school, all of us." He motioned over towards Ebony. "After the virus, she was pregnant, and disappeared with, with, this boy, I don't know who he was."

"Zoot." Trudy said smiling at Bray. She was amazed at what he remembered, she had been told that he wouldn't know anyone.

"I guess, I don't really know. It's really fuzzy." Bray said looking over at Ebony, feeling reassured when she smiled at him.

"It's fuzzy?" Ved asked. "Was it the same for you?" he asked looking at Ebony.

"Yeah, there were all these faces, I couldn't make them all out, or remember names." Ebony told him.

"They went back years, almost five." Ved sighed looking down. "What clear events do you remember?"

"We were looking for an antidote, and it took us on a long journey. There was a girl there, Danni, I think, I don't know what happened to her. She was a part of our tribe for a while, but we lost her in a fight." Bray said him.

"You remember her, that's good." Ved said making a note of it.

"We'd already been in the city for months when that happened." Trudy told Ved. She knew it was her job to help him get a time line.

"Do you remember coming back to the city?" Ved asked.

"From the country side?" Bray asked. "Ebony and I came back together. But I came into the city alone, that is how I found the mall. I was looking for a safe place, for food."

"Do you remember the first people you met?" Ved wondered.

"Lex, and a few other mallrats, most of them aren't with us anymore." Bray said looking at them.

"The school dance." Trudy said looking at him. "Do you remember the night of the school dance?"

Bray looked at her for a moment while he thought back to that night. "That was the night before my parents died. They had been really sick, and Ebony and I went to the dance, to get our minds off everything that was happening, we got into a fight that night."

"What do you remember about after they died?" Ved asked.

"I was standing in the hospital with someone, I don't know who it is, but I was standing there, we were both crying. It was only a couple days after that, that we evacuated to the country side." Bray said looking at Ebony.

"That must be where they started, where they started taking things." Ved said looking down at his hands, then back up at Bray and Ebony. "I'm going to need to write things down, think about it, see if I can find anything, any connection. We'll want him to see Danni, see if that jogs anything."

"Thank you." Bray said nodding his head.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Ebony asked standing up and looking at Ved.

The two of them walked into the dinning room, still within sight of Bray, but far enough way their whispered conversation wouldn't be heard.

"He doesn't want to remember." She whispered, arms crossed, looking over at Bray. He looked like a sitting duck in the living room, both Amber and Trudy watching every breath he took.

"He doesn't want to, or you don't want him to?" Ved wondered.

"He doesn't want to; he wants to go back to the city. He told me he wanted to go back." Ebony sighed.

"It will be harder to help him remember if he's fighting it." Ved told her.

"How much do you think it would hurt if I just told him things about every person?" Ebony asked

"I don't know, a lot, none at all, I honestly don't know." Ved looked over at him. "But it could also be hard, if he doesn't want to remember. If he's determined not to remember, I don't think I'll be able to help him."

"Thanks Ved." Ebony said smiling at him before returning to Bray's side. "How are you feeling?" she asked sitting down next to him.

"I'm okay, how are you? Tired?" Bray asked taking her hand.

Amber made a loud disgusted sound.

Ebony looked over at her, then back at Bray. "A little, but I'm okay."

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Bray asked looking towards the door, he would have done anything to get away from all these people watching him, waiting for him to remember them.

"Actually, I want to talk to you." Ebony said taking a large breath. She looked over at Amber and Trudy and forced herself to smile. She turned her whole body towards Bray, taking both his hands. "I'm not your wife."

"I know, but you are now." Bray said looking at her.

"Amber was." Ebony said looking over at Amber.

"Ebony!" Trudy shouted standing up. "You can't do this, they said we couldn't do this."

Amber nodded her head and smiled softly at Bray when he looked at her. She knew it was wrong what Ebony was doing, but she also knew that if it wasn't done soon, she was going to be the one to tell him.

"You have a son with her, Bray Junior, and another son, with Danni, his name is Johnnie." Ebony said, feelings the tears in her eyes.

"I-I-I have two sons?" Bray asked looking at Ebony, pulling his hands away from her. He was suddenly angry that no one had mentioned this to him before. They had been back for hours, and no one had bothered to tell him anything about his missing memories.

"You have a niece as well, Brady." Trudy added.

"What is going on?" Jay asked, coming into the room with Alice and Pride.

"I have sons." Bray said again looking at Ebony and glancing over at Amber.

"He remembers?" Pride asked.

"No, Ebony told him." Amber smiled.

"Ebony." Jay said looking down at her, noticing the tears in her eyes for the first time.

Bray stood up and looked around at all the people, it seemed the longer they were there, the more people gathered. He looked over as Ebony stood up as well. "What else?" he asked.

"I've tried so many times to kill Amber, to keep her from you. I hated her because she had you, and I wanted you. That night you remember, the night we got in a fight after the dance, that was the last time we were actually together." Ebony said sitting back down, she couldn't look at him any longer, not when her real memories were over powering the ones she had been living with.

"Stop, all of this, just stop." Jay said looking from Ebony to Bray in shock, unsure of why things had taken this turn.

"I need to be alone, with my wife." Bray said looking down at the ground.

Everyone turned to leave, everyone but Amber, she was looking at Ebony.

"Ebony?" Amber asked, waiting for her to leave as well.

"Ebony. Is. My. Wife." Bray said, each word forming its own sentence. He wanted to make sure that his words were clear, that everyone would understand him. He pulled her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her, while she cried. "My wife." He whispered.


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks for reading guys. It always makes me feel good to see a new review, or that someone is following the story!

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><p>"Amber, you have to give him time." Trudy said rubbing her back while she cried.<p>

"He made it clear, very clear, Ebony is his wife, she's all he remembers." Amber sobbed.

"And when he remembers you, do you also want him to remember you behaving like this?" Jay asked, he was sitting on the other side of the bed, trying to comfort her.

Amber just cried. She didn't know what to say, it was too much for her to think about. She knew she didn't want him to think about her being like this, acting this way. She needed to act like the girl, the woman he feel in love with so many times before.

MWMWMWMWMW

"Pick a word." Ved said walking into his bedroom. Mackenzie was in bed with the kids, a book on her lap.

"What?" She asked looking up from the story.

"I do not like them Sam I am." Lane said ignoring the interruption in his bedtime story.

"Honesty, Lane, keep reading." She said crawling out of the bed, towards where Ved was standing. She walked out of the room, into the hallway, "Pick a word for what?"

"Just pick a word, something you say all the time, something I will always be able to connect with you." Ved said taking both her hands.

"Peanut butter." Mackenzie said quickly.

Ved looked at her for a second and laughed. "Peanut butter?"

"Maybe I don't say it all the time, but I love peanut butter, I miss it. If I were ever to be stuck on a deserted island, I would want a life time supply of peanut butter."

"Okay, peanut butter it is." He smiled at her.

"Why did I have to pick a word?" she wanted to know what was going on.

"Because, with the memory there are things that trigger it. And I don't want to ever forget you." Ved said pulling her into a hug.

"You can be really strange sometimes." Mackenzie sighed, feeling him squeeze her.

"I'm serious, I don't want to be like Bray and Amber, unable to remember you." Ved whispered.

"I'll never let you forget me." She whispered back, pulling herself closer to him.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

"Bray, I'm not your wife, you don't love me." Ebony said slowly as they walked side by side.

"You're the only wife I remember having." Bray informed her. "I am trying to remember all these things you're telling me. I tried to think about those little boys I saw, to make a connection with them, with my sons, but I couldn't. There wasn't anything there."

"What am I going to do?" She whispered. "Do you remember a night in the mall, when you were first there? And Lex pushed someone over the railing?" she asked looking at him.

"Yeah, we sent the body out to sea. You weren't there." Bray said slowly thinking back to it. There was someone there with him, someone that held his hand, but he couldn't make out the face in his memory, it was all hazy, like many others.

"That person, the one that died, he was your brother, Zoot." Ebony hoped that something was going to trigger his memory, any part of it.

"That boy was my brother?" Bray asked. "The same one, the same boy I remember from before the virus."

"Yeah, that was your little brother." Ebony nodded. "I was with him, his tribe, I ruled the city as his Queen, we terrorized the city. I wasn't a good person, I wasn't a mallrat." Their fixed memories had a different version of Zoot, one where he gave up and disappeared, leaving his followers for Ebony to lead in a less destructive way.

"I don't understand." Bray shook his head. Nothing Ebony was saying made sense. She had run with a different tribe, she had been her own leader and lived in the palace for a long time. But they had always been Ebony and Bray, together.

"The girl you remember, the person you think I am, all those memories, all those things you think I do, they are things that Amber did. Things that Danni helped you with, not me." Ebony stopped walking. "I was with Jay when we tried to leave the city, he and I, we were in love."

"Ebony, please stop." Bray said grabbing at his head. It hurt to try and think about the things Ebony was telling him, to try and change his memories to fit around what she was saying. He didn't want to think about her being in love with another man either.

"I know, you don't want to remember these things, but it's the truth Bray, that's the way things really were." Ebony said holding back her tears. She knew that if she was upset it wouldn't do him any good, it was harder enough for him to try and understand all of what she was saying.

"No!" he shouted at her. "No, I don't remember any of that, all I remember is loving you!"

"You don't love me." Ebony shouted back at him.

"I can't take this anymore, I don't want to remember anything." Bray screamed before heading off, away from farm house.

"Bray." Ebony shouted after him.

"Let him go Ebbz." Lex said from the door of the house. "He needs to be alone."

"Lex, he doesn't remember." Ebony sighed looking back at Lex. "He doesn't want to remember."

"He's not going to remember if you keep telling him how he feels." Lex walked over to where she was standing. He knew the memories he had of their friendship were false, but he still felt that emotional bond with her, there was no immediate way to tell which memories were false and real. "You've got to give him a chance to think things out."

Ebony sighed and rested her head against Lex's shoulder. It was something she remembered doing a thousand times, memories that didn't belong to her, a friendship that was made up, but it was also one that wasn't going away.

MWMWMWMWMW

"What on earth is that?" Alice asked looking out the kitchen window at Lex and Ebony. All the yelling at brought her to see what was going on.

"What?" Jay asked looking as well, seeing the two from the back, Ebony's head resting on Lex's shoulder.

"Those two hate each other, unless they're getting something out of it." Alice told him.

"Their memories are twined together. They remember the truth, but they also remember the things they were made to believe were truth, and all the things that have happened since they've been in the city." Jay sighed.

"They were made to believe they were friends?" Alice asked.

"Yeah." Jay nodded. "That's why it's so hard for Ebony to just let Bray go." Jay turned away from the window.

"But you said Lex was going to get married, he didn't have any problem letting her go." Alice looked over at Jay was he walked around the kitchen.

"I think the love that Lex holds for Tai-san isn't something that can be changed, so when faced with having to pick between the two, even if a year of time is separating them, he's still got the stronger feelings and tie to Tai-san." Pride said, picking up on what Jay was talking about. "Human emotions aren't something man can control or change."

"So when Bray remembers, he will go back to Amber and things will go back to normal, the way they should be?" Alice asked.

"Without a doubt he will have a strong pull towards her. But his feelings for Ebony will still be there, most likely." Jay sighed.

"And her feelings for you?" Pride asked. "Are they still there?"

"I don't think Ebony had true feelings for me." Jay said trying not to sound sad or hurt.

"Her feelings must have been true enough, if you were the one that triggered her memories to come back." Alice thought.

"I think it had more to do with a strong emotional tie. Ebony and I didn't part on good terms, she was very angry with me when she left, and I think it was that anger that made her remember." Jay told them, not waiting to go into detail.

"Then do you think we need to find a strong emotional tie with Bray?" Pride asked.

"I think that is our best bet. I don't know what else would bring back a memory." Jay thought about how Ebony sounded when she talked to him, after she remembered, the angry and pain in her voice, and with Lex there was a sudden happiness for him.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you guys, it always feels good to know that someone is reading your stuff and liking it!

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><p>"Ebony, please, you've got to talk to him." Trudy said looking at her. There was a large group of them sitting around the table at the kitchen.<p>

"I'm done talking." Ebony said standing up. "We've been here for a week, do you think things are okay in the city, in my city right now?" she shouted. This was an ongoing discussion, one that started the moment Ebony saw a mallrat, until she went to bed at night. But none of them seemed to listen to her, or understand when she told them Bray wasn't ready.

"You're not even trying to help him remember!" Amber shouted standing up as well, she was frustrated, annoyed and hurt.

"Calm down." Alice shouted at both girls, waiting for them both to sit back down. She couldn't just allow the two of them to go at each other, no matter how much she wanted to watch them finally have it out.

"I'm not going to try and make him remember something he doesn't want to." Ebony said in a calm but shaky voice. It was easy to tell that she was just as tired of hearing about it as Bray was at trying to remember. "I am going to get my city back, that's what I'm going to talk about."

"And you don't think he would be more help if he remembered?" Pride asked, knowing it was best to say something before Amber had another chance.

"When are you going to understand that he doesn't want to remember?" Ebony asked looking around at all of them, trying to plead with them, to make them understand. "He doesn't want his old life right now." She looked right at Amber, "So stop pushing it on him."

"You don't want him to remember." Amber said looking back at Ebony, disgusted. "You're trying to keep him from me." It was simple to her. This was just another way that Ebony tried to keep them apart, another thing to come between them, it was what Ebony did best after all.

"Get over yourself Amber." Ebony pushed away from the table. "I am leaving."

"Ebony, please." Jay said standing up, trying to plead with her.

"No, you please. This is your tribe, this is still your doing, yours and Ved's." Ebony said pointing a finger at him. "I'm not like this lot here, I won't sit back and let this crazy group rule over my city any longer. I'm going back, and Bray is going with me." With that she left the room full of mallrats.

"You guys need to understand, the city, our city, we know what is going on there, you don't, and we can't just sit here, not doing anything." Lex said getting up. "If they go back, I have to go with them."

"Lex." Tai-san said, looking up at her husband.

"We have to take down the Techno's without taking down the city." Lex said looking at them, "And we know how they work." He left the room as well, no one saying anything.

"They have a point." Jay nodded.

"No, they don't!" Amber shouted. "She doesn't want him to remember, and she's trying to make sure he doesn't."

"Honestly Amber." Tai-san said looking at her, for the first time understanding how Ebony felt about Amber.

MWMWMWMWMWMWM

Rolling over with a sigh Mackenzie hit Ved's sleeping body.

"Sleep." He muttered, reaching out for her, eyes closed.

"I can't." she whispered back. When she heard the soft snoring coming from Ved seconds later, she knew he was still fast asleep, not fully aware of the fact that she was, yet again wide awake, and it was well into the night. She pushed the covers away from her, and sat up, pulling her legs out, and walking the few steps to the other bed, the bed with Lane and Honesty, fast asleep. She made her way in between the two, and watched them as they slept. They were safe at the farm, they were learning things she couldn't have taught them, and they were getting more social interaction than before. She knew that it should have been enough for her, she should have been satisfied with knowing they were getting an amazing childhood, a normal childhood. She use to think that was all she needed, was for them to be safe and happy. But ever since Ebony, Lex and Bray had returned, she knew it wasn't enough anymore. She stroked each child's hair a few times before getting out of the bed. She stood between the two, wondering what would happen to the life she was building for them.

"Mommy?" the little boy asked, lifting his head.

"Go back to sleep sweetie, " Mackenzie said bending down and smiling at him,

"I love you mommy." The little boy whispered as his eyes shut.

"I love you too." Mackenzie sighed. She went over and climbed back into bed with Ved, unsure if sleep would ever come.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

Amber walked back and forth in the kitchen, bouncing the toddler in her arms. It was late, or early, she wasn't really sure. The taken mallrats had been back for almost two weeks, and Bray still didn't remember her, their son. It was stressful and painful to watch and Bray and Ebony walked hand in hand around the farm, talking about things that hadn't happened. She knew that her stress was affecting B.J., and she knew that was why she was up again, another restless night. She turned to the kitchen door when someone came in, but sighed, disappointed when it was Ebony.

"Not who you wanted to see." Ebony rolled her eyes, placing a water cup on the table.

"Sorry, I was just hoping it was Trudy or Salene." Amber whispered back, trying her best to sound pleasant enough.

"Please don't pretend you like me. Bray isn't here, you don't have to act like we're friends." Ebony told her.

"I'm not." Amber started. "It's not that." She sighed, "I'm sorry, it's just hard, I would give anything to have him remember."

Ebony looked at her, she wasn't sure if she should feel guilty, or annoyed.

"If there was some way you could make him remember Ebony, I would give my word that we would all go back to the city, that we would take down the Technos. I would do anything to have him back." Amber looked at the little boys face, his eyes were still wide, watching her.

"I've already told you, I can't make him remember something he doesn't want to." Ebony looked at her, and for a second she felt her heart pull for Amber. She use to look so happy, so in control and sure of herself and everything around her. But now she just looked lost.

MWMWMWMWMW

Ebony flipped through the notes Ved had scattered over the table. There was drawling of the brains, sketches of the hook ups, the wires, the machines. Everything that was laid out before her was about Bray, about his memories. She picked up a list of names, names they had been using, people he should have had an emotional tie to. Amber, the love of his life, Danni, mother to his first born son, Baby Bray, Johnnie, Trudy, Brady, Eagle, Zoot, everything was written down, any tie there could have been, every name they could have thought of. But the longer she looked at the list, the more apparent it became to her that there was one name that was missing. One name that no one had used yet, something that could be the key. She put the paper back down and sat in the chair, the one she had watched Bray sit in so many times. She knew that it was only a matter of time before the others thought of it, before Amber realized the name no one had said. She looked up when someone else walked into the room.

"Ebony, sorry I was looking for Ved." Mackenzie smiled at her. "Everything alright?" she noticed the troubled look Ebony had.

"I think I know how to give Bray back his memories." Ebony whispered looking down at the papers. "But what if, there is a part of me, that doesn't want him to remember?"

"Okay." Mackenzie said sitting down on the other side of the table, her hands rested on the table top as she watched Ebony, trying to think of what to say. "What are our options here? You don't tell him, and leave so that he doesn't find out. But then you have to risk him finding out someday anyways. Or telling him, seeing if it works, and giving back two little boys their father."

"Are you trying to guilt me into this?" Ebony asked.

"No, but don't ask my opinion if you don't want to hear it." Mackenzie sighed. "The right thing to do is what will give you no regrets."

Bray sat at the same table, the table littered with papers regarding his memories, the timeline laid open. He and Ebony were going over it again, but this time he could tell that she had more to add to it, something she was having a hard time saying.

"Will you just say it already?" Bray laughed putting the paper down.

"What?" Ebony asked looking up at him, wondering if she had started to speak her thoughts out loud.

"You hate going over this as much as I do." Bray smiled. "I'm only trying to humor you with this, you know that." He reached out for her hands, brushing her knuckles on his lips.

Ebony took a deep breath and looked down at the table. "There is something, something no one has really talked about yet."

"What?" Bray wondered what the mystery could be. He had long given up on remembering, and had no problem not remembering. He enjoyed his life with Ebony as his wife. He liked the way she would steal looks when she didn't think he was watching her, and how she could go from cold to hot in a matter of seconds. She was already for a fight, and often times looking for one, just for something to do. She made him happy.

"What do you think will change when you remember the truth, when you have the real memories back?" Ebony asked softly, watching him.

"I don't know. You said it's hard to tell the difference sometimes, between your real memories and the ones Ram made you believe." Bray sighed. "I'm guessing it will be the same for me."

Ebony sighed and watched him for a moment. The memories she had, all mixed together whirled in her head, nights with Jay, her wedding to Bray. Even though she knew they were fake, she still lived with the idea that she was married and in love with him for over a year. "I hope you don't hate me when this is over." She whispered, catching Bray off guard. Before he had the chance to say anything else she told him. "Your brother's name wasn't Zoot, he was a year younger than you, and you use to protect him from everything, and you still did, even when he was Zoot, even when Lex pushed him, you were just protecting him. His name was Martin."

Bray watched as Ebony's lips moved, as the name floated into the air and hung there for a second before disappearing. Bray saw a flash of ice blue eyes, short curly hair, dirty dread locks, a gentle small boy, the boy he cried with when their parents died, the scary dirty boy that had lost everything, even himself. Bray saw Trudy, holding a baby, a boat burning, Amber holding his hand, his wedding, Danni's smile. The flashes started to come faster and faster, everything was flashing before him, arguments, kisses, search parties, the market, Top Hat, B.J., Johnnie, and Ebony. He reached up and pressed his fists against his eyes hard, trying to make it stop.

Ebony could feel the tears sting her eyes as she watched him. She could see the confused, angry emotions that were taking him over. She could see part of the real Bray back, the Bray that wasn't her husband. She didn't want to cry, not in front of him, not if he remembered. She wanted him to see her as the same person, the person she was before they made them believe the lies. She stood up quietly, and left him in the room, alone. As she walked out of the barn and into the fresh air, she saw Amber. Amber always seemed to be close by, no matter what her and Bray were doing, Amber always seemed to be waiting for the moment, for her moment.

"Ebony." Amber smiled and nodded at her. "Is everything alright?" she asked noting the water building up in her eyes.

Ebony stopped and looked at Amber, her head titled to one side. "It's a done deal, Bray remembers." Was all she could say.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Dear Guest that left a review, thanks! I tend to forget about this story because I wrote it so long ago. Your review made me update. So if it happens again, just review or send me a message.**

The only place big enough to hold a meeting for the mallrats, was the barn, and what was where everyone gathered, waiting to hear the news that Amber was withholding. The only two people not present were Bray and Lex. Ebony sat on the opposite side of their makeshift circle from Amber. Mackenzie and Ved were sitting next to Ebony, with Jack and Cloe on the other side of her. Pride, May and Danni were sitting on one side of Amber, with Trudy, Salene and Ryan on the other. That left Patsy, KC, Tally, Andy, Ellie, Tai-san and Jay filling in the middle.

"Listen up all." Alice shouted, getting all the side conversations to stop. "Amber's got some stuff we need to talk about."

"Thank you Alice." Amber smiled, it felt like the first time in weeks she had smiled this big, it was the first time in a long time she had such a reason to be happy. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks to Ebony, Bray remembers."

"What?" Trudy asked looking over at Ebony.

"She found something we hadn't, and it worked." Amber smiled across at Ebony who had her eyes glued to the floor. "We now need to start making plans to head back into the city. We've sat here long enough, allowing this group of kids to take control over our lives, over our home, and I don't know about the rest of you, but I am ready to go home."

There were nods of agreement all coming from those sitting closet to Amber. It was easy to see the excitement that started on her side of the room. Ideas being said, when to go back, what to do about the Technos, it was as though they already knew they were making plans.

But Ebony's side stayed rather quit and watched and a pair of eyes watched her.

"We will of course need to vote about going back." Amber said loudly, trying to be heard of the conversations that had started up again.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

Bray punched the bag of sand Lex was holding again. "This isn't right," he yelled. He was angry, more than angry, but all the different memories made it hard for him to connect with one emotion for very long.

"You really should learn how to punch." Lex said, trying to make him think less about his memories. He knew how confusing and frustrating it was to remember.

"I told her I didn't want to remember, I didn't want to put everyone through this." Bray sighed as Lex dropped the sand bag. It had been hours since he started to remember, and things were still coming back to him.

"You don't mean that. You're just confused, there is a lot going on in your mind, and it doesn't go away anytime soon." Lex sighed sitting down under the old apple tree, he watched as Bray sat next to him.

"Doesn't go away?" Bray asked. He had asked Ebony about the memories before, but she never wanted to share much, this Ebony wasn't as open with him as the one he remembered.

"Ebony and I are still dealing with all these memories, things are still coming back to me. I still dream about Siva sometimes. It's only been a few weeks since we left the city." Lex told him.

"This whole time she was dealing with all this and never said a word to me about it." Bray sighed as he remembered how Ebony had been acting since they came to the farm. How concerned she was for him, how she avoided really telling him what was going on in her head, how she had tried to stay arms lengths away when they would walk together. And the whole time she had been feeling the same way he was at that moment. He wanted to kiss her and strangle her at the same time.

"Its Ebony, she isn't much different either way you look at it. She was always out to get what she wanted, not caring who got hurt in the way. She was power hungry, drama filled, witchy Ebony, in both memories." Lex laughed as he thought about it. They really couldn't change their personalities.

"Watch it, she's my wife." Bray said sending Lex a warning look. It was natural for him to defend her, there was no thought put into it.

"But that's the thing, she isn't really your wife." Lex leaned back a little. "Why do you think she sent me to talk to you instead of coming herself?"

Bray sighed and thought about it. He thought about how Ebony had acted all morning, and what she had said to him right before she told him his brother's name. That was when it suddenly clicked. He pushed himself up, quickly heading towards the barn.

"Where are you going?" Lex shouted, following after him.

Bray pushed open the barn door and saw everyone sitting.

"Majority rules, we're taking back our city." Amber said nodding her head.

Bray watched her for a second. She didn't look happy, but he was frozen in spot, all the other faces he was seeing, they were all bringing back memories and emotions, something he had expected, but the strength of all the memories was not something he could prepare for. Every face brought back something different, the smallest of things, to huge moments.

"Bray!" Lane shouted, hopping up from Ved's laps and running over to him.

Ebony looked up instantly, locking eyes with Bray just long enough, before all the chaos started.

"Bray." Amber breathed turning around to face him. She felt different looking at him, knowing that he remembered her now.

Bray's mind was filled with pictures of Amber, their wedding day, the day their son was born, her smile, eyes, everything. "Amber." He whispered as she put her arms around him hugging him.

"I missed you so much." Amber cried, holding herself tight to him.

"I believe this meeting is over." Mackenzie said standing up. She took a side glance just in time to watch Ebony leave the barn. "It's time to go inside." She said helping up Honesty while Ved went to get Lane.

MWMWMWMW

"You want to go back." Ved said looking over at Mackenzie. They were out under a tree, watching Honesty and Lane play. Ved had been surprised at the meeting when Mackenzie had voted to go back. He had expected her to want to stay away from the city now that Ebony and the others were back and safe.

"Of course I want to go back." Mackenzie said looking over at him. "I had my own dreams before all this happened, before your tribe messed everything up."

"My tribe?" Ved asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, your tribe. Let's not forget how all of this came to be Ved, you played a key role in them coming here." Mackenzie was annoyed.

Ved stared at her for a moment. He couldn't believe the things she was saying. Since they had come to the farm she never once blamed him for any of this, he was sure she was the only person that didn't hold him responsible for everything. But he was seeing her true feelings for the first time. "I see." He said looking out over at Lane and Honesty. "I get it now." He said before he walked away from her, heading towards the house.

Mackenzie knew that her words had hurt him, and she didn't mean to do that. She didn't mean to say the things she had, at least not in the way they had come out. She had wanted him to see that she wanted to go back and help him, help all of them fix what had happened, she wanted to tell him that she needed to go back and fix it, not for him, not for the kids, but for her. So that she could finally sleep at night. She needed to go back to chasing after her dream, after what she wanted. But instead all she did was push Ved away, and hurt him in the worse way possible.

MWMWMWMWMW

"You okay?" Jay asking sitting down at the kitchen table across from Ebony.

Ebony stared at the table, following the design in the wood around and around, back and forth, she was so focused on it, she hadn't even heard Jay.

"Ebony," he said this time touching her arm. When she looked at him he smiled. "Everything alright?"

"Of course." Ebony said nodding her head.

"Have you spoke with Bray yet?" Jay wondered. He hadn't seen much of Ebony, and it seemed like even less of Bray. Since their return he had forced himself to give her as much space as he could. He knew things were already complicated, and she was dealing with a lot. He didn't want to make anything harder for her.

"No, I think it's wise I keep my distances from him. He's reconnecting with his life, his real one." Ebony looked over at Jay.

Jay could see all the confusion and anger on her face. He used to love to read all the emotions that ran across that face, the ones that would light up her eyes, make her mouth twitch into a smile. "Just because he remembers doesn't mean that he doesn't remember all the time he spent with you."

Ebony sighed and stood up, Jay following her. "There is a pull, a strong pull to the last real memories we have, to the life we had. It's almost like someone hit the pause button on everything that was happening, and now play has been hit, but it's all in fast forward, and we're trying to catch up."

"Do you think that's why it was so easy for Lex to pick back up with Tai-san, as though no time went by?" Jay asked standing in front of her.

"All those feelings and thoughts are still there. All of them." Ebony looked up at Jay through her eye lashes. She had been fighting the urge to just kiss him since the night they took her from the mall.

"Feelings for who?" Jay whispered as Ebony stepped closer to him.

Ebony allowed her instinct to take over for the first time. Her fingers traced over Jay's lips, and she knew he felt it as well, as his hands rested on her hips, pulling her up against him. She reached her arms up and locked them behind Jay's neck, pulling herself up to him, to his lips. Finding his lips with her eyes close was just as easy as she remembered. It was almost as though she had been kissing him this whole time, she was right back into the flow of it. Holding each other as tight as they could, lips moving in perfect sync, it was as though no time had passed at all.

It took both Ebony and Jay a moment to realize what was happening when they were pulled apart. There was yelling coming from somewhere. Bray was pulling Jay away, it was easy to see the anger on his face.

"That's my wife!" Bray screamed, as he pushed Jay up against the kitchen wall, his fist ready.

"Bray!" Amber shouted from the doorway.

Ebony stood unsure of what had just happened, the memories mixing together, Bray was her husband, she was with Jay, she wasn't able to tell which one was real, the memories were to overwhelming, too powerful. She screamed stop and pushed the palms of her hands into the sides of her head, it hurt.

"Ebony." Bray said, automatically losing focus on Jay, and going to her side. "What's wrong?" He pulled both her hands away from her head and held them tight in his hands.

"What the heck is going on?" Lex asked coming into the kitchen, all the noise had made him curious as to what was happening.

Ebony looked from Jay and Bray. There were so many emotions pulling her in different ways, so many memories, and none of them seemed real anymore, she couldn't tell the difference between any of them. She didn't want any of them to be real. She looked down at her hands, locked in Bray's tight grip. Over at Jay, and all she could see was how calm he was, Amber looked scared, and Lex looked unsure of what was happening.

"It's okay." Bray said letting go on her hands so he could pull her to him, into a hug. "It's okay honey." He whispered. He knew the look she wore, he knew that tears were close, and she could get angry before she cried in front of any of them.

"Bray." Amber whispered, unsure of what he was doing.

It was the sound of her voice that made Bray tense up. He had forgotten, in all the emotional mix up, he loosened his grip on Ebony and turned to look over at Amber and Jay.

Ebony pushed back, stepping away from Bray's reach. She watched as Jay took a step towards her, but at the same time keeping a distance. But she was more concerned for Bray, she saw how his face twisted with the pain and confusion of what was going on.

It was silent for a long time, everyone just watching each other, unsure of what to do, and say. There was no explaining what was going on.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

"What are you going to do now?" Lex asked looking over at her.

"I don't know, I think I might leave, just for awhile." She sighed. "I've got a lot going on in my head, and I just need to figure it all out." The sun was setting, and Ebony had escaped the farm house after the drama in the kitchen. She knew that someone would come to check on her, no she knew that Lex would come and check on her. Somehow their relationship, as fake as it was, wasn't going through the hardships that her and Bray were. Their real memories didn't seem to affect their interactions, and they carried on as they had.

"You mean you're not going to stick around and fight for the city?" he sounded shocked, unsure if he was talking to the same girl.

"Fight for the city." She said it like it wasn't a question, but more of a statement. "I don't think I ever liked the city." She whispered.

"What do you mean, you were Queen of the city, twice." Lex reminded her with a laugh.

"And nothing good came from either time." She laughed as well. They were both quite for a moment, just looking over the farm. "Can you honestly tell me that you want to go back there, that you're mind is clear enough to go back?"

Lex sighed and kicked his foot at the over grown grass. He thought about her question. "I don't know, I don't think about it like that. I don't think about the memories I had and the ones they gave me. I just think about now, and only when I have to the past."

"Okay, then can you honestly tell me you're ready to face my sister?" Ebony smiled over at him. She knew that Lex had a much simpler mind, but she also knew that he still had a tie to Siva.

He laughed as well. "I guess you're right, maybe I'm not ready, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to go back. You're talking like you don't want to go."

"Because I don't." she shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not going back, not now at least."

He knew that her mind was made up. If she didn't want to go back, then she wasn't going to. He was still surprised that she didn't want to go to the city, to get back what was hers. When she first remembered it seemed like she was ready to take down Ram, to get her city back. But he knew that she wasn't dealing with her own memories, because of all the problems with Bray and the other mallrats. Everyone had wanted her to fix Bray, and it didn't give her a chance to try and understand what was happening in her own mind.

"Well," he said after a long pause. "I guess it will be a more interesting fight without you. I had been picturing you and Java battling it out."

"You guys will be fine without me. There are enough other city kids that are sick of the Techno's, you won't have problems." She smiled at him. She knew that all the plans were already set. They had talked about them for days. "Just do me a favor."

"What?" he asked, wondering what she wanted.

"Make sure Bray's okay. It's going to hard to go back, to see what we've done. Don't let him take it too personally." She told him turning to face him. "Bray is going to be upset when he sees the city kids, when he hears the stories, and I know how hard he can be, I've seen it, real and fake. So just be there for him."

Lex was sure this time that he wasn't talking to the same girl, this wasn't the Ebony he knew, the real or the fake one. She seemed to have real feelings, and real concerns. "Okay who are you, and what did you do to the real Ebony?"

Ebony turned back away from him and sighed. "I'm being serious, can you not even take me seriously for five minutes?"

"Sorry." Lex said feeling guilty.

"It's different for me, I've hurt people before, used them, we both have. But Bray, he's good to the core, this will be harder on him, and I just want someone to be there, someone that understands what he's dealing with, because for a year we thought we were doing so much good." She explained her reasoning. "Just watch out for him, that's all I'm asking."

"Of course." He whispered.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

"You're leaving." Jay whispered standing behind Ebony. "You're not going to stay and fight."

Ebony nodded her head, she wasn't sure that she could trust her words at the moment.

"Is this because of the kiss and Bray?" he wondered.

Ebony nodded her head again, this time turning to look at him.

"It won't happen again, I can make it not happen, if you'll stay." Jay was on the verge of begging her to stay, to stay with him. He had seen it in her eyes over the last few days, those looks he remembered getting, the smile she saved for him, they were all starting to come back. But he had also seen the pain, and confusion every time she saw Bray, or Amber.

"It's not the people that are making me leave, I'm going for me." Ebony said smiling. It was simple, and she thought it was easy to understand. She always did what she wanted to do, what was best for her. And leaving was what was best. "I'm leaving so I can try to understand my real and fake memories."

Jay didn't know what to say to that. He knew that it was hard for her, that it was hard for all of them, they all had moments where they got confused, they remembered something wrong, they became frustrated with themselves for not being to handle it. But he didn't want to lose her because of it.

"It's better if I go. Everyone will be able to handle things better without me, and I will be able to figure things out for myself." Ebony could tell he didn't really understand her reasoning for leaving, but she didn't want him to think that it had anything to do with him. "I don't want Bray, or anyone else to know. The only other person I have told is Lex."

"But-" Ebony cut Jay off.

"Please, my mind is made up. I don't have any desire to go back to the city, with or without Techno control." Ebony started to turn away from him, but he grabbed her arm holding her in place.

"I don't want you to leave." Jay said looking down into her creamy brown eyes, reading every flicker of emotion. "I do not want to go without you."

Ebony looked into his eyes and felt like she was taken right back in time. They were standing outside the mall and he was telling her to go, he was watching her walk away. "You have to let me go, just like last time."

"I didn't, I came after you last time, that's how I ended up here." He whispered, the air between them had changed, and his little back bedroom suddenly felt a lot smaller. He could feel her whole body relax, and he loosened his grip on her arm, turning her body back to face him. "I waited to get you back, and I'm not going to give you up that easily."

Ebony could feel it in the pit of her stomach, her arms tingled where his hands were and her face felt hotter than normal. "Then don't." she whispered before their lips crushed each other.

There was so much passion and need in their kiss. At first it felt rushed, like it had an expiration date, but then it slowed into a more natural and loving one. The fire was still burning for both of them as they pulled apart for a second of air. But it only took that second for them to move to the bed. Their hands exploring over their bodies, keeping each other close at all costs. Nothing was more important to either Jay or Ebony than each other at the moment, and neither of them had any intentions of stopping. For a moment they felt what it would have been like if they had never been separated.


	10. Chapter 10

"So that's that." Mackenzie said at the tribe meeting. She looked around at all the faces and over at Ved to make sure she had made her point clear. She had tried to make amends with him, but it hadn't worked. He wasn't ready to talk to her, he wasn't willing to forgive for what she had said.

"Thank you." Amber smiled nodding. "She brings up a lot of good points, it's going to be easier to take them down from inside the city, using their own weapon's against them."

"It won't be easy to get any of us into the city." Bray said looking around at them. He felt like the leader again. "Ram will have increased everything since we left. He will be worried about a takedown, he is expecting it to happen."

"They will have made it harder to get through sectors, most likely there will be a curfew, and a lot of check points, so it will be best to start with the Zoo, the out skirts of the city weren't under any control, they were a no man's land." Lex said, trying to use the memories he had of the Techno's to help them.

"Ebony do you have anything to add?" Amber asked smiling over at her.

Ebony looked around at all the faces, and then over at Jay, who was seated at her side. She wished she could go back to their morning, to the moment she was lost with Jay, the moment that felt real to her. She looked across the room at Mackenzie, and lastly at Bray and Lex. But seeing Bray, it brought back the string of memories she couldn't separate, real and fake.

"Ebony, and I aren't going back to the city." Jay said speaking for her, noting her expression. They had agreed that they would tell everyone, to make it easier on all the planning.

The whole room seemed to explode with noise.

"What?" Alice asked.

"You can't be serious." May shouted.

"Calm down!" Lex shouted, making everyone fall silent.

"This was your idea, you asked for this Ebony. You wanted to go back." Amber said looking at her.

Ebony slowly pushed herself up from her chair and let out a breath. "I don't need to explain my reasons, and no one should expect me too. I am not going back to the city, and I am also not staying here at the farm." She looked at no one but Bray while she spoke.

"What are you saying?" Mackenzie asked.

"You're leaving." Bray whispered, for him it was almost like no one else in the room, they all faded away, and all he could see was Ebony, standing before him, announcing that she was leaving him.

Ebony tried not to look sad when Bray spoke, he was the reason she didn't want to say anything. But she knew that Jay had a point, to make it easier on everyone, they had to know. "I have no reason to go back, and no reason to stay here." With that she left the barn, and the stunned mallrats behind her.

"And you're going with her?" Pride asked, turning to look at Jay who was still seated.

"I will stay and help with plans, both Ebony and I will. But she's not ready to go back, and I'm not going to force her." Jay told everyone.

"Not ready, she was the one that told me to start making plans. She's the one that asked that we go back." Amber shouted frustrated. She didn't understand what had just happened.

"We should have known that she would have done this, if there is nothing in it for her, why would she want to go back." Trudy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Don't talk about her like that." Bray snapped looking over at Trudy. "You have no idea, none of you do." With that, both he and Lex left the barn.

"Did he just stick up for her?" Ellie asked, unsure of what happened.

"She can't be doing this." Amber said, still looking confused.

"She was ready to go when she wasn't having to face her own memories, when everyone was so focused on Bray remembering, and helping Lex adjust." Jay said looking sad at Amber. He had always thought that her skill was to think about everyone, to see how everything affected everyone, but it seemed like Ebony didn't count, no one bothered to stop and think about how she was dealing with everything, who she was talking to.

"And no one bothered to help her." Mackenzie breathed out. "I have to check on her." She said before leaving the barn, Honestly and Lane right behind her.

MWMWMWMWMW

"If you'd rather be with her, than just go!" Amber shouted at Bray.

"She's my wife Amber, even though you can't understand that, she has been with me for the last year." Bray tried to explain to Amber, but it seemed pointless, everything he was feeling, she didn't understand, and it seemed to him that she didn't even want to try and understand.

"I am your wife." Amber glared back at him. "I am the mother of your child, not her." She could feel the tears falling, warm against her cheeks.

"You're being ridiculous." Bray said shaking his head. "You're being selfish."

"I am not selfish!" Amber screamed. "I am making plans to get our city back. I am trying to keep this tribe together, and our family!"

"Then you need to give me the space to work things out." Bray said looking at her. He didn't understand why she couldn't understand that, why she was refusing to look at this from their point of view, their jumbled and mixed up view on everything.

"You don't need to give me any excuses." Amber said taking a deep breath, to calm herself. "If you want to be with her, then just go, be with her, despite everything she's done."

"This doesn't have anything to do with what Ebony has done, this has to do with what her and I are going through." Bray shouted. He was beyond frustrated with her. She wasn't listening to anything he was saying, and she wasn't even trying. He looked over at her before leaving the bedroom, Amber and his son's room.

It was already dark outside, and he wasn't sure that he knew his way around enough to wander around out in the dark, and the small house seemed crammed with people since the Eco tribe members, Pride, May, Danni, and Johnnie where all camped out in the living room. He went towards the kitchen, but there he found Alice, Tai-san, Ellie, Cloe and Jack. Without saying anything to them, he headed back out the door, and towards the only one that was left, the one that lead to outside. There was a small glow coming from the barn, he figured it would be his best bet.

"That wasn't the smoothest way to tell everyone." Lex laughed.

Bray paused outside the door, looking through the crack, the glow of the fire was low, but enough to light up Ebony, Jay and Lex, all sitting on the dirt floor.

"It's better to tell everyone now, than not show up when they are expecting us." Ebony sighed. "Although I think they would have been less surprised if I just didn't show up."

"And you're sure you won't change your mind?" Lex asked the two.

"My mind is set." Ebony nodded. She rested her head on Jay's shoulder, his arms holding her.

"And I'm not willing to give her up again, for anything." Jay smiled, his hand was on top of Ebony's.

Bray pushed the door open, and watched as the three of them all looked up surprised to see him. He looked down at everyone, he tried not to linger on Ebony.

Jay wasn't surprised when Ebony pulled away from him. "I'm going to head back, see if I can find some more blankets." He nodded towards Ebony. He knew that the three of them needed time together, they needed each other in ways no one else could understand.

Ebony smiled and nodded at Jay as he left the barn, when he was gone, she looked back down at the fire

"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Bray sighed, suddenly feeling very unwanted by the one person he felt like he needed.

"You're not." Lex laughed. "Sit down, join our group in hiding from the madness."

"This does seem to be the calmest place." Bray added sitting across from the other two.

"You know what, I don't think you two have really had a chance to talk since everything." Lex said pushing himself up.

Ebony looked up at Lex, throwing daggers at him with her eyes. Why was he doing this to her? She had avoided being alone with Bray since he had remembered.

"You need to talk." Lex smiled over at Bray, "And not to me." He said before leaving the barn.

A long silence sat between them, neither of them sure what to say to the other. Ebony kept her eyes on the small flames, while Bray kept his eyes on her.

"How are you?" Bray asked, needing to hear her voice.

Ebony looked up at him, unsure of how he wanted her to answer that question. "I'm fine." She finally decided that fine would work.

"Ebony." Bray whispered after another long pause of silences.

Ebony looked up at him again.

"I don't hate you. I don't feel any different towards you, than I did before I remembered." He whispered looking her in the eye.

The words felt like a knife to her. He felt the same way, but she wasn't sure of what she felt, and she knew he had to have that same pull towards Amber that she had for Jay. "Don't tell me that."

"But it's the truth. And if that is why you've been avoiding me, because you think I hate you, you need to know." He breathed out. He moved over, he needed to be able to touch her, he needed to be able to feel her next to him again.

Ebony watched him for a moment, trying to organize her thoughts. "The way you feel for me, it isn't going to change anything, I have already made up my mind."

"You can't leave, you can't leave me." Bray looked worried and hurt.

Ebony smiled, she had seen this look so many times before, but at the moment she wasn't sure which times were real and which were fake, they all seemed too real to her. "I'm not leaving forever." She took his hand, and watched as hers fit perfectly into his, their fingers laced. "I need to go away, for a while, to figure out what is going on in my head, to figure out all these memories. I need to do it alone." With her free hand she traced over his knuckles, something she knew she had done before, something she knew was real.

"But Jay is going with you." As soon as the words left his mouth he felt very immature. He knew it wasn't the right thing to say, it wasn't his place, but he couldn't help but feel jealous. He wanted to take back what he had said.

Ebony could feel her stomach tighten. She looked at Bray and back at the fire. "I don't want you to think about me." She whispered. "I want you to think about getting the city back, getting it back for all the kids that call it home." She looked over at him, and despite the tears in both their eyes she smiled. "I want you to think about your sons, and creating a new and safe world for them."

"And you, when can I think about you again?" Bray asked.

Ebony thought for a second, still smiling at him. "When you're able to remember the real me, and not the way Ram made us think I was."

"You will come back." Bray smiled and leaned in, kissing her once softly on the lips and then holding her. Holding her in his arms was something he had been thinking about, something he needed to do to feel right again, but he didn't want to upset Amber or anyone else. It seemed like whenever he or Ebony were in the same room together, everyone was holding their breath, or watching their every move.


	11. Chapter 11

The take down of the city had been simple, it was less complicated to over ride the Techno's than the mallrats expected. It was almost as though they were ordered not to fight back, Lex thought they may have had plans to abandon the city all together. The hard part was fixing what they had done. While taking them down, it almost meant shutting down the cities power source, and all those city kids addicted to paradise could no longer get their daily fix. There were riots and out bursts all over in the beginning. But when they stopped, and things calmed back down, the power was turned back on, and people went back to work.

Many of the mallrats that had found refugee at the farm were now living happily back in the city, but not everything was back to how it had been. They had lost the mall in a fire during the initial take down of the Techno's, and the other home they had once known, the hotel were the barracks for the Techno's, and now housed the ones that stayed in the city. The mallrats for a long period of time had nowhere to turn, but eventually they befriended those that were their enemies, and found peace living at the hotel among the ex Techno's.

After the take down, Alice returned to the farm, along with Jack and Cloe. Ellie had never left the farm, she and Ved stayed with the children.

Ebony and Jay had left the farm in the middle of the night, with no word to anyone but Lex. Many of the mallrats had expected them to stay up to the fight, and Amber was sure that Jay would change his mind and go back with them. But when they woke up one morning, they were gone.

Ebony's departure impacted many of the mallrats, Bray especially. He became more quite and focused after she left. He stopped trying to understand his mixed memories and focused on taking the city back. It was easy to see that part of his heart had left with Ebony, and it wasn't easy for Amber to accept that.

Amber was partially relived when Ebony was gone. She thought that it would make things easier for Bray, but she grew more and more frustrated with the situation due to Bray's behavior. She understood that what Bray was dealing with was something she couldn't bound to grasp, but it was still hard to see how much he was still holding on to her.

Lex was also greatly affected by Ebony leaving. He seemed to become more protective of Bray when they went back to the city. But his relationship with Tai-san only increased. Together the two had announced to the tribe that when things were stable, they wanted to start their own family. Lex the punk, had finally started to grow up.

Mackenzie had chosen to leave the mallrats and return to chasing her dream. Her, her kids and Paul disappeared into the city after she went back to the farm to collect her children. Ved never spoke of them, and everyone was careful not to bring them up around him.

But time in the city and on the farm moved quickly. Months turned into a year, and then it seemed as though another year had come and gone. The children that were babies when they first went back to the city were now walking. Brady was almost eight, with Johnny and B.J. right behind her at the age of four. Cloe and Jack had another child and named her Emma. Lex and Tai-san had a baby girl they called Leah. Even KC and Patsy were expecting their first child. Amber and Bray also had another child together, a boy they named Martian.

But like always within the city, and with the mallrats, when things are going smoothly, trouble was on its way.

Ved stood in the barn, the sun warming his back though the open barn doors. He was bringing in the hay, preparing for winter. He could feel the muscles in his back burn when he stood up straight, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He could hear someone approaching behind him, their feet crunching the fallen hay as they walked.

"I'm almost done Alice, I'll be in for lunch soon." He said as he started to turn around.

"Peanut butter."

He stood frozen looking at her. Her hair was longer, much longer, and she looked paler than he remembered. But it was that simple word, from her, that made all those memories he had locked away free again. Her jeans were ripped, and she was wearing a sweater that was three sizes to large, and fit her more like a dress than a shirt. It was easy to tell she had been travelling, the circles under her eyes were dark, and her cheeks looked pink.

"I didn't mean to bother you, they told me you were out here, so I thought I should come and say hello." She stepped forward, into the barn.

"Why are you here?" Ved whispered.

"We're passing through on our way back to the city. We thought this would be a good place to stop for the day." She played with her fingers as she talked, trying to look less dumb standing in front of him.

"Ved!" someone shouted from behind her. They both turned to watch as Lane came running towards them, straight into Ved's arms.

"Hey buddy." Ved said hugging the boy, he was taller, older. Ved hadn't pictured him growing.

"See mom, I told you, I told you he'd be here waiting for us." Lane said smiling over at Mackenzie and then up at Ved again.

"He wasn't waiting for us." Honesty said coming into the barn as well.

"I'm glad that you're here." Lane ignored his sister. "You wouldn't believe the things we have seen since we left the farm. I wish you could have come with us. Mom took us to the oceans!"

"Oceans?" Ved laughed.

"Yeah, we've just came from the one close by. The waves tried to eat Honesty. I think it's because of her bad attitude." Lane whispered, sneering over at his sister.

"I can hear you." Honesty reminded him.

"Both of you, please." Mackenzie said looking at them.

"Come on Lane, Paul needs our help." Honesty said extending her hand for her brother.

"But I want to be with Ved, I want to tell him everything." Lane whined taking his sisters hand.

"You'll get plenty of time to tell him anything you want, later." Honesty whispered. "He and mom need to talk now."

"Grownups always have to talk." Lane sighed as they walked out of the barn.

"They missed you, both of them." Mackenzie said looking back at Ved.

"I missed them too. I can't believe how much they have grown." He laughed a little.

"We didn't expect to be here for another few days, but Lane was just so excited and anxious that we all moved faster." She laughed thinking back on how Lane had been acting when he found out they were going back to the city.

"So you've been travelling." Ved knew it was inevitable. They were going to head down this path no matter what.

"It didn't start that way. We started out looking for Stephanie." Mackenzie smiled thinking of her friend.

"Did you find her?" he wondered.

"No, she was killed, or deleted as they put it." He could see the tears well in her eyes and then disappear just as quickly. "After that we just kept going until we hit the coast line."

"I'm sorry, I know how much she meant to you."

"It's okay, Paul thinks it helped me come to terms that I'm not going to make it back to the states." Mackenzie gave a nervous laugh. "I guess I've been dealing with reality since I left."

"It sounds more like growing up to me." He told her.

Mackenzie didn't want to start an argument with him, she just nodded her head at him.

"You're going to the city tomorrow?" he asked.

"If I can get Lane to leave." She could feel the tension building.

"I guess I better go see him now then, so you don't have to change your plans." Ved said walking past her out of the barn. He couldn't stand there looking at her any longer, and he knew that things would grow more awkward as the day went on.

Mackenzie turned and watched him walk back towards the house, she could do nothing but hang her head and follow.

MWMWMWMW

"I can't believe how big you've gotten." Alice said ruffling Lane's hair.

"My mom thinks I'm going to be taller than Paul." Lane smiled up at her from next to Ved.

"His father was tall." Mackenzie smiled. It had been so long since she had seen this kind of smile on his face.

"Being tall is a good thing." Jack laughed. "I can't believe you guys are all back."

"Not all of us, Ebony and Jay will be here soon," Mackenzie told him. "They couldn't move as quickly."

"Well still, it's nice to know that everyone is really safe." Cloe smiled.

"Yeah, yeah it is." Mackenzie said softly watched as Lane and Ved talked.

"Ellie and Gel will be back soon, then we can sit down for dinner."

"Who's Gel?" Honesty asked. She was holding Emma.

All the mallrats looked at each other for a second, unsure of how to answer that question.

"She's new." Cloe informed. "A little younger than me, a little annoying."

"Hey!" Ved said looking over at her. "Don't say that."

Mackenzie saw Paul's expression before she was able to read his hands. "You know what, it's not important who she is." She couldn't make herself smile when she read him. "You'll meet her when she gets back with Ellie."

"So why are you guys going back to the city?" Jack asked, hoping to change the subject. But Mackenzie wasn't able to answer because Ellie came in through the back door.

"Did I hear my name?" she asked. "Oh my gosh, Mackenzie!"

"Ellie." Mackenzie smiled standing up to hug her. "How are you?"

"I'm good, look at you, you're really here." Ellie said so shocked.

"I know, we're going to the city tomorrow when Jay and Ebony get here." She informed her. She looked around the room when she saw Ved get up where he was sitting, Lane following behind him.

"Hey honey." Ved said greeting the girl that walked in behind Ellie. He hugged and kissed her quickly.

"It was such a long walk, I feel so gross and dirty." She complained.

"It was less than a half mile." Ellie said rolling her eyes. "I'm so glad that you're here, but I've got to put some stuff away before dinner."

"It's good to see you too." Mackenzie whispered. She turned around before Ved turned to face her, watching Paul, waiting for a response from him.

"Who is this?" Gel asked bending over and looking at Lane.

"Lane." Ved smiled patting his head.

"This is the famous Lane, Ved has told me so much about you." Gel smiled reaching out to hug him.

Lane scrunched up his nose and dropped Ved's hand, backing away from the girl. "Mommy." He said hiding his face in her sweater.

Mackenzie reached down and picked the boy up, struggling to lift the nine year old off the ground, but holding him tight to her. "Sorry, he's a little shy." She said turning around to look at Gel and Ved, arms wrapped around each other.

Gel's eyes narrowed as she looked at her. "Who is she?"

"I'm Mackenzie." She gave her a fake smile. "My boy Lane, and Honesty, and this is Paul."

"Mackenzie?" Gel asked looking her up and down and then over at Ved.

To Mackenzie the girl looked like a dog, trying to mark her territory. And she was sure that everyone else in the room picked up on it as well.

"So, why are you heading back to the city now?" Jack said wanting to get back on track, and away from Gel.

"We were close, and Ebony and Jay thought it would be nice to come and see everyone." Mackenzie said turning her attention back towards Jack and sitting back down in a chair at the table. "We caught word of them about a year ago, and tracked them down, we've been travelling around with them since."

"How are they, how is Jay?" Ved asked.

"Good, they are both really good, Ebony is almost like a whole new person." Mackenzie said freeing her hands to sign the conversation to Paul.

"And her memory?" Jack wondered.

"I think that it is something she is going to deal with for the rest of her life." She sighed.

"Well you've been travelling for two years, you've got to have some good stories to share with us, interesting people, something, just make it good." Cloe laughed. Not much had happened around the farm, and she knew the only drama they had was that that Gel created.

Ved watched as Mackenzie signed to Paul, her hands speeding up slightly and she kept glancing over at Honesty, her hands where Lane couldn't see.

"We don't have any good stories, never stayed anywhere too long." She smiled quickly and then kissed the top of Lane's head. "Wash up for dinner please." She told his as he crawled off her lap.

Paul signed back to her, and it made Honesty stop dead in her tracks. Her face paling, and eyes grow wide.

"What?" Ved asked, he could tell that something had been said between the two that wasn't meant for the children to know about, and he knew that wasn't normal, for Mackenzie to keep secrets.

Mackenzie gave a nervous laugh and looked back at Honesty. "Paul was just reminding me of some things we need to do before Ebony and Jay arrive tomorrow." She signed to Honesty and turned back to the table. "I should see if I can help Alice in the kitchen." She left quickly, before anyone else could ask her anything.

"I don't like her." Gel said crossing her arms in front of her.

"Why because she didn't once ask about you?" Cloe asked rolling her eyes and heading for the kitchen as well.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

"I don't want Ved to tuck me in." Lane said tears in his eyes and he looked up at Mackenzie, Ved standing in the doorway.

Mackenzie glanced back at the doorway, and then down at the little boy. "Why, you were so excited to see him today, did something happen?"

"He's not your Ved, he's different now." Lane whispered.

Mackenzie wasn't sure what to say to him. She bent over and kissed his forehead, unsure if it was okay to be touched by what he had said. "I'll come back in a few minutes, when Honesty is ready for bed."

"Okay." He said rolling over on his side and pulling is blue stuffed dog close to him.

Mackenzie walked slowly out of the room, following Ved down the hallway a little. "I'm sorry, I guess I didn't prepare him enough for coming back."

"It's okay, you couldn't have known." Ved nodded his head.

"But I should have guessed." She felt awkward standing before him now. "I should make sure that Honesty is getting ready, and see if Alice has any more blankets for Paul and I."

"You and Paul, that's great." Ved smiled over at her as they walked down the hall.

"What?" Mackenzie asked glancing over at him and then stopping suddenly laughing lightly. "Paul is like my brother, he's my support system, there is no me and anyone, just the kids."

"Sorry, I just assumed, I mean it's been years."

"800 days tomorrow." Honesty announced from the end of the hallway. "789 days since she last talked to you."

"You counted the days?" Ved asked surprised that she knew.

"I did when we first left, I counted the nights she would cry." Honesty tone was bitter. "It's how she taught us months."

Mackenzie could feel her eyes grow big, "Bed, now!" she said using her best angry mom voice, pointing down the hallway. "I'm sorry, I think she's starting to rebel early. The older they get, the harder to seems to be a parent."

"It's okay, I'm sure you're doing an amazing job." He nodded looking at her. She looked as though she was ready to cry from the embarrassment.

"And I am sorry about Lane, this just isn't what he was expecting, what any of us were expecting." Mackenzie's words were rushed. She looked at him then turned and walked down the hallway quickly. Being anywhere he wasn't was all she needed.

MWMWMWMW

By the time the farm mallrats were up the next morning, their kitchen was already full with Mackenzie and her family, as well as Ebony and Jay, and a sleeping baby.

"Bloody hell, what is going on down here?" Alice yawned coming out of her room, into the kitchen. She was use to being the first one up in the mornings, so the noise from the kitchen wasn't what she had been expecting.

"Sorry, I hope we weren't being too loud." Mackenzie said looking over at her.

Alice looked at Jay, then Ebony, then the baby sleeping in her lap.

"Hi Alice." Jay said standing up and hugging her. "It's been awhile."

"Yeah, I would say so." Alice wasn't sure if she was really awake or not. "Ebony," she looked down at her in the kitchen chair.

Ebony nodded her head back and smiled.

"You have a kid?" Alice felt suddenly confused, and thought that she must be dreaming for sure. Ebony getting pregnant, and having a kid were something she'd never pictured before.

"Yeah, Zhara." Jay smiled down at Ebony and the sleeping baby.

"I said they couldn't move as quickly as us." Mackenzie laughed. She knew that it was meant to be a surprise to everyone. "I've started breakfast, I hope that's okay." She said turning around and getting a plate for Alice.

"I think you should stick around here." Alice laughed taking the plate and sitting down across from Ebony, still watching her in awe.

Ved, Gel, Cloe and Jack were the next to come into the kitchen.

"Something smells good." Gel said stopping short when she saw Mackenzie wearing an apron. "You cook."

"She does way more than you." Cloe said pushing past her and going straight to Jay. "It's so good to see you guys."

"Honesty, take Zhara into the other room please," Ebony said passing the sleeping toddler to her.

Ved smiled and laughed letting go of his brother. He couldn't help but turn and watch as Honesty walked out of the room, out of Mackenzie's sight, and he looked around Lane was nowhere to be found. He watched her for a second, but she looked perfectly at ease, not panicked, not searching the room, like she used to look, before.

"Lose your manners Ved?" Ebony asked standing in front of him, waiting for a hug.

"Sorry, more like my head this morning." Ved laughed. "It's so good to see you guys. How long have you been here?"

"A few hours. It's easier to travel at night for us." Jay smiled, pulling Ebony over to him.

"It's true, Zhara sleeps through the night, and better when she's being bounced." Ebony laughed.

"They'll rest up for a few hours before we leave for the city." Mackenzie said, her back to the crowd as she got more plates of food ready. "I sent Paul and Lane out to collect more firewood because it looked low."

"Here let me help." Alice said now that she was finished.

"No, you rest, this is the least I can do for allowing Paul and the kids to stay here while we go into the city." Mackenzie smiled, as she set plates of food on the table for everyone.

"They aren't going with you?" Ved asked looking surprised at her. He knew the moment she spoke those words something was going on.

"What are you, a saint?" Gel asked feeling very left out of everything happening around her.

All the mallrats stood looking at each other unsure of what to say.

"You know Mackenzie is just very good at leaving lasting impressions. She becomes important to everyone she meets." Jay answered, choosing his words carefully.

"That's the truth, the first time I met her she kicked Lex's butt, twice in one week I think." Jack laughed.

"And she cleaned up the mess I made when Ved and I broke up, and she didn't even know us." Cloe smiled at her. "So, yeah, I guess she is a saint."

"I think it would be better if Jay and Ved got a chance to catch up, so can we not talk about the things I've done." Mackenzie said glancing over at Ebony.

"She's right, I would rather know what my baby brother has been up too." Jay said putting his arm around him and pulling him towards the table, away from Gel.

"Was that your baby?" Ved asked pointing towards the door Honesty had gone through earlier.

"Yeah, Zhara." Jay laughed. "But please don't tell me you have any yet."

"No, no." Ved laughed as well. He was glad that his brother was back and safe. He was also happy to see how happy he was. It seemed as though his life with Ebony was turning out to be perfect, they suited each other well, and balanced each another out.

MWMWMWMWMWMW

"Will you be angry if we want to stay longer?" Jay asked as he and Mackenzie stood outside of the farm house. "She thinks you will be."

Mackenzie turned and looked at him. "You guys have done so much for us, I could never be mad." She sighed looking back out towards the rolling hills. "Plus I think this may be the safest place for us."

"I think you're right about that, being this close to the city, the protection we have here is greater than anywhere else." Jay sighed as well. It felt good not to be looking over his shoulder.

"Just promise me that you won't mention anything to your brother." Mackenzie smiled at him. "He already suspects something, and I don't want him getting involved."

Jay nodded at her putting an arm around her and pulling her in for a side hug, "Just watch what you sign, and I think we'll be safe." They had become like family since they had found each other again. Mackenzie had helped to save them, and they in return saved her.

MWMWMWMW

"Are you sure you're ready?" Jay asked as the group walked towards the city.

"If I said no, would it matter?" Ebony asked. "It's just time."

"She knows the cues, she's as ready as she can be." Mackenzie assured Jay. They were all worried about what would happen when she saw Bray for the first time. "The question should be, are you sure they are going to help us?"

"He is the only one that can help us." Ebony nodded her head. She could feel the butterflies in her stomach. She had never intended on coming back to the city after having Zhara, but she knew that she needed to now.

MWMWMWMW

It was like a scene from a movie. Jay, Ebony and Mackenzie stood frozen in the market, eyes locked on the people yards away from them, and other city kids moving around them, going about their business.

It was Ebony's first urge to rush forward, to rush to him, embrace him in a way she had done before, but she needed to remind herself that it was a lie. She stood still, allowing her mind to separate reality from fiction. The fussing baby coming from Jay's back was her call to reality, but it wasn't her cue to move. She couldn't move, all she could do was look at him. His brown hair was smooth, and it didn't appear to be any longer or shorter than she remembered. Next to him was the other person that cued her fake memories. His black hair was short, and he looked older, over worked, but still the same foolish boy she knew.

"Ebony?" Lex shouted, moving through the people. He couldn't be frozen the way the others were, to him it seemed more like a dream. His friend, the city Queen was finally home. He had thought that she wouldn't come back, not after it being so long, but he was sure that was her.

All it took was the name and heads started to turn. Her name was one that was whispered through the city streets. She was the Queen that didn't return. Most of the city kids still viewed Bray as their King, and Ebony was their lost Queen. There were certain things that the Tenchno's did that couldn't be undone, and giving the city strong leaders was one of them, leaders they didn't fear but loved. And during the Techno rein the kids of the city loved Bray and Ebony, as a couple, as leaders, as other city kids, they were the good and the bad of the city, thrown together to give all hope and peace of mind.

"Ebony." Lex said standing before her. "You're here, you're really here." He felt as though with every blink she might disappear, this moment might be something in reality space.

Ebony took a deep breath and pulled her eyes away from Bray as he walked towards them. She had to focus on Lex. "Hi." She smiled at him.

"Where have you been?" he asked pulling her into a hug. "Tai-san is going to be so happy to know that you're in the city, to know you're okay."

"I'm sure everyone will be glad for their safe return." Bray smiled at her when he reached them. He stuck his hand out for Jay.

"Mackenzie." Lex laughed, going to hug her as well.

"Still not big on PDA." Mackenzie said putting her hands up to stop him, but it didn't matter, Lex still gave her a hug. "Okay, good to see you too Lex."

"Your kids? And Paul, are they here?" Lex wondered.

"They are at the farm, with Paul." Mackenzie laughed. This wasn't the Lex she remembered.

"You came back." Bray said looking at Ebony.

Ebony nodded her head. "We all came back." She watched him for a second before reaching for the baby strapped to Jay's back. "There was a reason for my return."

"Always straight to the point. Glad you haven't changed." Lex laughed looking at the baby in her arms.

"Zhara isn't the reason we returned, we might be in need of the mallrats help." Jay said looking from Bray and Lex.

"Let's go to the hotel, everyone will want to see you guys." Lex said nodding his head.

"The hotel?" Ebony asked looking at Lex.

"We lost the mall when the Techno's fell, it was burned." Lex explained.

MWMWMWMW

Jack sat pushing his eyes open, staring at the blue eyes of the boy cross from him. "You will blink."

"Nope." Lane popped his p, not moving. He tilted his head to one side and watched him, and then to the other side.

"It's impossible to bet him." Ved laughed coming into the room, Gel following behind him. "He can honestly sit like that for hours."

Jack gave in right before Lane turned to look at his sister sitting next to him.

"Let's go tell Paul." Lane said quickly taking his sister hand and pulling her out of the room.

"I think he's avoiding me." Ved said sitting down in the set he was just in.

"He just doesn't understand what's going on." Cloe gave him a sad smile. "He's only a kid."

"What doesn't he understand?" Gel asked.

"Nothing." Ved said looking up at Cloe. "Why don't you go see where Ellie went off to?"

"She's such a bore, but I guess." Gel sighed getting up and leaving the three to talk.

"She's bound to figure it out with them around." Jack laughed sitting back, rubbing his eyes.

"Honey, she's not that smart." Cloe said patting his knee. "Will you go check on Emma please, she should be waking up soon."

"Sure thing babe." Jack said kissing the top of her head before he left the room.

"He's scared of me, he runs from a room as soon as I come in." Ved sighed looking at Cloe.

"Can you blame him?" Cloe asked. "For over a year you were like a father to him, and now that he's back and sees you kissing someone that isn't Mackenzie. He doesn't understand that. You can't expect him to."

"So what, I stay away from Gel just to make him more comfortable?" Ved asked.

"I doubt Mackenzie would have left either of them here if they were uncomfortable." Cloe laughed. She couldn't be sure, but she did know what it felt like to be a mother, and even though Lane and Honesty weren't her real children, she still viewed them and loved them as though they were.

"Then what?" Ved asked.

"He's an nine year old boy who has a strong attachment to his mother, maybe he's acting that way to protect her." Cloe explained. "Try talking with him when Gel isn't attached to your side, lips, or hand."

Ved sighed and watched as Cloe got up and left as well.

MWMWMWM

"Am I allowed to think about you now?" Bray asked, he and Ebony had fallen back from the others as they walked towards the hotel. He needed to be able to talk to her, before they go back and the chance never came.

"I guess." Ebony smiled softy over at him.

"You were gone longer than I thought you would be, the city has been safe for a long time." Bray said looking around them as they walked. He knew the looks they were getting from the people they passed, he could hear the whispered spreading through the city, the Queen was back.

"We travelled for months before we settled anywhere, when Mackenzie found us we started to travel again." Ebony explained.

"Is this going to be like Danni's return?" Bray wondered.

"Danni?" Ebony asked, she had to go through the list of memories in her mind. When had Danni returned, what happened when she did? She quickly found the right memory and understood what he was referring too, Zhara. "I didn't come back because I had a child."

"Then she isn't mine?" he asked, hurt for a second, it was so easy to slip back into the fake memories that still played in his mind.

Ebony stopped and looked down at the little girl resting on her hip. She looked over at Bray, and smiled at Jay when he glanced back at her. "I don't know, we don't know."

"What do you mean?" Bray asked.

"We were together before, and Jay and I are together, so I can't say for sure." Ebony said kissing the girls forehead. "But we've both already said, we didn't come back because of her."

Neither of them said anything, they just walked along side each other, eyes forward. It wasn't until they got closer to the hotel that Ebony started to notice the people that had begun to follow behind them, the sideways looks they were getting from others. It had made her heart quicken, maybe they were already too late. She quickened her pace, catching up to the others. "Mackenzie."

They all slowed, looking around them.

"What is going on?" Jay asked, taking Zhara, his mind already looking for the quickest exit, the best way to get away from the crowd.

Lex looked back at Bray, and at all the people. He couldn't help but laugh looking at how scared the three looked. "Don't look so worried."

"Is that really her?" they could hear them talking this time.

"She's back, is she really back?"

"King Bray, is it her?" someone shouted.

"I'll take care of it Bray, get them inside." Lex said stopping and turning towards the crowd. "We aren't answering any questions, the mallrats would like things to be calm." He shouted, his arms out, the people stopping, allowing the others to go forward.

"It's her, she's finally come back!" there was a certain amount of excitement going through the crowd.

Ebony could remember the last time she had heard a crowd like this, it was when the city was under the Techno control, and it was when she was the Queen, when she was living a fake life.

"We've got a lot to talk about." Bray said, as they made it to the hotel stairs.

"A lot more than you even know." Mackenzie said as they went in through the doors.


	12. Chapter 12

"Honesty, when is mom coming back?" Lane turned to his sister as the dinner table, tears in his eyes.

"Soon, she said she would only be gone for one night at the most." Honesty said looking at her brother.

"But I want her now." Lane said getting up from the table.

Both Alice and Cloe started to get up to go after him when Honesty stopped them.

"Paul and I will handle it." Honesty said, to all the mallrats she reminded them so much of Mackenzie at that moment.

When they were gone from the table Cloe let out a worried sigh. "I can't believe that she left them."

"I know, she and Ved used to never let those two out of their sight." Alice said pointing at Ved with her fork.

"Something must have happened to make her go back to the city without them." Jack offered.

"She wouldn't have left them here, even with Paul, if it was something bad." Ved said looking down at his plate.

"They just seem like spoiled brats to me." Gel commented. "Not eating, and doing that hand thing all the time. That Mackenzie girl must be a terrible parent, leaving her kids here for us to take care of, talk about selfish."

"They are not spoiled or brats." Ved shouted getting up from the table. He looked down at Gel, his eye tight with anger. "Don't talk about them, about Mackenzie."

Gel's mouth opened slightly as she looked up at Ved, unable to understand why he was getting to mad at her. She glared over at Cloe when she started to laugh, after Ved left the room.

"I think Ved has made it clear, you don't talk about people you don't know." Alice said getting up and taking the plate away that was sitting in front of her. "You can do the dishes tonight, it'll give you some time to think." She added before going through the kitchen door.

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWMWMW

Ved came into the bedroom that Honesty, Lane and Paul were staying in. Lane was crying on his bed, and both Honesty and Paul were trying to calm him down, but it seemed like they were getting nowhere.

"Paul doesn't think you'll be of much help." Honesty said turning and looking at Ved.

"A little help is better than none, isn't it?" Ved asked.

"I guess." Honesty sighed and went to sit on the bed, while Paul signed that he'd bring water up.

"Hey." Ved said sitting down on Lane's bed.

Lane rolled over so he couldn't see Ved. "Go away."

"Lane," Honesty said, in a sharp voice, just like Mackenzie would use.

"I just want my mom." Lane sniffed.

"I know, trust me." Ved sighed leaning against the wall, moving over on the bed, closer to Lane. He put one hand on Lane's shoulder, and patted the empty space next to him for Honesty to come and sit on.

Honesty watched him for a second before making a move, she curled into Ved's side, just like she had done years ago when she was younger.

"What if I tell you a story, one that Mackenzie tells you?" Ved asked glancing at each child.

Honesty smiled at him, and Lane's crying softened.

"It's Green Eggs and Ham. There is this little old grumpy man that always sits in his house, until one day this mouse looking guy runs through his living room with a sign that says I am Sam." Ved started.

"Sam I am." Honesty laughed.

"Right, well Sam asks the guy if he likes green eggs and ham, and if he'd like them here or there." Ved smiled back at her. He couldn't remember all the words, but he had heard her read it to them every night. "Then he asked if he liked them in a house and with a mouse."

"That's not how it goes." Lane laughed turning around, and propping himself up on Ved. "I would not like them here or there, I would not like them anywhere, I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them Sam I am." Lane recited. "That's what he says."

"Would you like them in a house, would you like them with a mouse?" Honesty asked looking over at her brother.

And their story continued until they were both laughing and yawning next to Ved. Ved sat there with them until Lane's eyes grew heavy and finally closed. He looked over at Honesty and she was still awake with a sad, scared look playing in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Ved whispered.

"She is coming back right, our mom, Mackenzie, she is going to come back for us?" she asked looking up at Ved.

"Of course she is going to come back for you, why would you think she wouldn't?" Ved asked looking down.

"Because of what she said to Paul, and what she told me." Honesty said as the tears broke free.

It hurt Ved's heart to watch her cry. "What did she say?"

"That is was dangerous, and that you're the only person that could protect us the way she can." Honesty said looking down at the blanket. "She left us here, what if she doesn't come back?"

"She is going to come back, you know she would never be able to be away from you." Ved reassured her. "She loves you and Lane more than her own life."

"More than you?" Honesty asked looking at him.

Ved watched the little girl for a moment. "Way more than she could have ever loved me."

"But we came back for you, that's what she told Paul." Honesty scooted down in the bed.

Ved didn't know what to tell her. He could tell that she was being serious, but his mind told him that she was only a little girl, and she didn't understand what had happened. "She is going to come back for you and Lane, no matter what, I promise."

MWMWMWMWMWMW

"Ebony you have to understand how crazy this sounds." Amber said shaking her head.

"She's right, I was there, I pushed him, I killed him." Lex said, shaking his head.

"Déjà vu?" Ebony asked, the memory of them sitting in the mall years before, talking about Zoot, flashed in her mind.

"That's what you told her, when she was telling us about Spike, the first time they took us." Bray said looking over at Ebony, he believed everything she was saying. He knew the look she had in her eyes when she was lying, and it wasn't there now.

"There is more to it," Mackenzie sighed.

"Just start from the beginning." Jay said. He knew that the story could be complicated.

"When we took the Techno's down, I found a map with all the other cities they had taken over. I was determined to stop them all together, revenge for taking Stephanie, for hurting so many people." Mackenzie explained.

"You told us that before you left." Bray said nodding, remembering the conversation.

"We went back, through all the cities, until we got to the first one, the one where they started." Mackenzie said glancing at Jay.

"The city I lived in." Jay told them. "Ebony and I travelled that way, settling outside of the city with a few people I still knew there. We knew that the city was no longer under Techno control, someone else came along, and knocked them down."

"I had encouraged tribes in all the other cities to rebel, telling them that the Techno's were on the run, they were over." Mackenzie explained.

"Where does Zoot come into this?" Lex asked.

"The last city. I was relieved to find out the Techno's were really over." Mackenzie said. "Paul and I decided that it would be a safe place to stay. We'd been on the move for almost a year and I didn't want that life for the kids. We were there for a few weeks, and I started to meet people, trading, like I used to. Much like the way I meet Ebony, he was someone of power, and found my services to be helpful." she explained. "I had only heard rumors of Zoot and his followers before. I wasn't in the city after the virus, during his time, so I couldn't make the connection."

"Are you trying to say he got a heart?" Lex asked with a laugh, leaning back in his chair.

"Lex, shut up and let her talk." Ebony said rolling her eyes at him.

"He was a great person, overly guarded, but sweet. He even seemed shy at first, it was easy to start a friendship with him, to be around him." Mackenzie sighed, feeling the nerves in her stomach, she warped her arms a little tighter around her waist. "He was great around Honesty."

"I'm sorry, where was Paul, wouldn't he have known?" Amber asked.

"Lane didn't want to meet him, he didn't want anything to do with the new life we were making, so Paul often stayed with him. It all happened so quickly, but I didn't know him as Zoot, he was Martin there." Mackenzie looked over at Jay for support, she knew it was okay when he smiled and nodded at her. "He was curious about my past, and it quickly became an obsession of his after he heard Honesty say something about the Phoenix Statue in the mall. When he realized what city I had come from, what tribes I knew, he lost it, he snapped and became someone, something else."

"I don't understand, he was Martin?" Bray asked.

"At first, he was gentle and kind around me and most everyone else. When I first meet him I didn't believe he was even a leader, let alone the one controlling the city." She told them. "He was shy, and it just didn't seem to fit, he didn't seem like a leader."

"So he placed a price on you, then you ran?" Amber asked.

"He had Honesty and I locked up for almost a week before we escaped, that's when he placed a price on me," Mackenzie said looking down at her hands. She didn't want to relive that, she didn't want to think about it.

"He had been controlling the Techno's from afar, picking out the cities, the people, everything. It was about a few months after the virus, after everything that he came into the picture. He had control over Ram, but when Ram came here, he went rouge. Zoot had given him orders to destroy this city, and all those in it." Jay explained.

"When Martin found out, when he realized my connection to the thing, the place that still made him Zoot, the people that had once whispered his name in terror, he snapped. He changed," she snapped her fingers, looking far away, "just like that."

"So you're saying that Zoot is alive and well and out to get you?" Lex wanted to make sure he understood it all.

"He wants me as his new Queen, or dead, he made it clear I had no other options." Mackenzie said.

"And Ebony's involvement in this?" Bray asked.

"He needs his old Queen in order to feel as though he is in control again." Mackenzie replied. "We've been running for months, but with Honesty's health, we couldn't keep running."

"We didn't want to involve any of you, but we felt like we had no other choice." Ebony said.

"What's wrong with Honesty?" Amber asked.

"We don't know, but she isn't well." Mackenzie said making herself smile. "We understand this is a lot to put on you, and don't feel as though you need to say yes."

"What are we going to say yes too?" Amber asked, she didn't know what they wanted from them.

"Protection for as long as you will offer it. We are putting everyone in risk being here, but he shows no signs of coming back here, I think he is more scared of this city, than the kids were of him." Mackenzie told them.

"We will keep you safe here forever if we need too." Bray said looking over at the girl. He could remember the way she looked when he first saw her. Younger, still worried, tired and pale, the only thing different around her now was the way she seemed to hold herself, in a position that would make it easy to watch behind you.

"We want as few people to know about this, we didn't even tell anyone at the farm." Jay said. "That's why we requested only speaking with you three."

"Bray you can't just offer that." Amber said looking over at him. "It's up to the city as a whole, not us."

"She is the Queen in their eyes, they aren't going to turn their backs on her, and neither am I." Bray said standing up from the table. "I can speak for the city when I say they will be safe here."

"Can you explain that?" Ebony asked looking up at him. "Queen?"

Lex gave a slight chuckle. "We took down the Techno's but we couldn't change everything they did."

"They think she's the Queen, of the city?" Mackenzie asked pointing at Ebony.

"The missing Queen." Amber sighed. "They believe that everything you two did when the Techno's were in control was the right thing to do, they believed the lies, and they still believe in the two of you."

"If the word travels that I'm back, that we're here, he will find out." Ebony said looking over at Mackenzie.

Mackenzie leaned back in her chair, trying to think of a new plan. She watched as ideas would come to others, ideas that they had thought of already, things that wouldn't work.

"Wait." Ebony said as something came to her, stopping Lex from coming up with another off the wall idea. "What if we can control the rumors that spread through the city, if we can control it, then we can control what information gets back to Zoot."

"You can't control a rumor, that's why it's a rumor." Jay said looking over at her.

"But we can change who he is looking for." Bray said smiling for the first time. "He is looking for you, long braids, red line, black clothes. If we change that, who's to say that there isn't more than one Ebony in the city?"

"That will work to confuse the hunters." Ebony nodded. "They haven't seen me, they have only been told what I look like."

"But Mackenzie?" Jay asked. "They know what she looks like, they have all seen her."

"I'll leave," Mackenzie said sitting up straight, offering the only idea that would keep everyone safe. "The kids are safe at the farm with Ved and Paul. You three are safer here in the city." She looked at them suddenly as though it was all so simple. "I can move faster, and I know this area well enough, I will be safe."

"You have been running like this for months, it's time to stop." Ebony said shaking her head. "We already told you, if you leave, then we're going with you."

"It's putting too many people in danger to stay here." Mackenzie said shaking her head at her. "We can't all stay here."

"We can protect you." Lex said looking at her.

"Mackenzie," Ebony said with pleading eyes. To the others it looked they there were having a silent conversation, one no one but them could understand.

"It's the only real way to protect everyone." Mackenzie gave one sad smile before her whole face changed back to her happy go lucky smile. "I think it's best that I go back to the farm,"

"Mackenzie." Jay said standing up in sync with her. "We made a promise."

"No." Mackenzie smiled at him. "Thank you for meeting with me, but I want to get back to the kids."

Everyone watched as she left.

"We'll follow her back to the farm." Ebony said standing up, "She won't be able to leave the kids there."

"You just got here, you can't leave already." Lex said looking shocked.

"Lex, we don't have time for games of catch up." Ebony snapped looking at him. "Zoot is alive, and I'm sure if he does come back here, he'll want to deal with you personally." With that she stormed out of the room.

"She's still got that temper." Bray laughed, smiling as he watched her.

"She's the same Ebony." Jay smiled at them. "I best follow them, from the reaction the city kids had before, I don't want her out there alone."

"I'll accompany you out of the city, it'll help to control rumors." Bray said standing up quickly. He wasn't ready for Ebony to leave, and he also wasn't ready to listen to the questions that he knew Amber had.

"Thank you." Jay said nodding his head. "It was nice to see you, and I hope we'll have time to catch up later, when I'm able to talk sense into both Ebony and Mackenzie."

MWMWMWMWMWMWM

"She has a baby." Amber said as Bray walked back into the hotel.

"It seems she does." Bray nodded, surprised to see Amber. He had taken him time, trying to sort things out, understand what was real and fake, what emotions were real.

"Did she say?" Amber asked, taking his hand as he passed.

Bray paused and looked at her. He wanted to be able to explain everything to her. She had been so patient with him over the years, she had been the woman he loved, the mother of his children, and his best friend, but this, this wasn't something he could easily explain to her. "She doesn't know."

"Oh." Amber nodded her head. She wanted to know, but at the same time, she thought it would be better not to hear.

"Right now, I think it's best if we think about the problem at hand." Bray smiled, kissing her cheek quickly, before continuing down the hall. "My brother is alive." He whispered.

"He is." Amber nodded. "Should we tell Trudy, I think Brady has the right to know?"

"I don't know." Bray told her. "I don't know what we're going to do."

"Maybe we should go check on the boys, and worry about this later, when we've had more time to process and think." Amber suggested.

"I think that's the best idea." Bray nodded in agreement. There were so many questions, ideas and thoughts running through his mind. His brother was alive, that thought seemed to take over any that Ebony, Amber, or Mackenzie had occupied just moments before. He tried to picture the way his brother looked the last time he had seen him, the last time he had smiled. But everything was fuzzy, every memory, every picture.


	13. Chapter 13

I don't fail at life, I just fail at anything outside of work...thank you serenityskywalker for the PM, which lead to an email, which got me on here. I actually spent all of last weekend sick, rereading an old Tribe story I wrote...makes me miss being young. This part doesn't have much Bray or his reaction, but I will see if I can work it into what I already wrote forever ago. Enjoy.

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><p>Mackenzie paced back and forth along the hallway. The house was quite, the only thing she could hear were the gentle sounds of snores and whispered conversations. Ebony and Jay were 'fighting' about what they were going to do. Mackenzie had made up her mind, and she knew that she was going to need to leave. She sighed when she reached the room she knew Honesty and Lane were sleeping in, she turned around and walked back down the hall way until she reached the stairs. She went back and forth, the thoughts and feelings of leaving the kids, her kids, was overwhelming. She had to look at the situation from all sides, and she knew the only thing she could do to keep them all safe was to leave, to go back to him. She needed to keep Honesty and Lane safe, she need the Mallrats to live in peace. She couldn't bring this to them, she couldn't do what Ved had done to them so many years ago.<p>

"If you keep that up you're going to wear the carpet out." Ved said finally speaking up. He had been watching her for almost a half hour from the door way of his room. He had known that something wasn't right when she had returned from the city so quickly after leaving. She had arrived in the middle of the night. He was shocked to see her come into the bedroom, face stained with tears. And he knew that she was just as surprised to find him there with Honesty and Lane. By sunrise Ebony and Jay had returned as well, and he watched as they would all have conversations with their eyes, trying to get Mackenzie alone, and she in returned tried to stay close to anyone, the kids included. But he knew that something had happened, because Ebony had pulled her from the room earlier that night, and he could hear the two girls shouting at each other in the barn. And now, she paced back and forth, worry and fear playing on her face, tears often filling her eyes.

Mackenzie could feel her heart jump when Ved spoke to her. She had been so busy thinking that she hadn't noticed him. She looked at him wide eyed and scared. Seeing him she knew the consequences of her decision. She could feel the tears roll down her cheek before she could blink them away.

"What is going on?" Ved said stepping forward quickly. He felt the sudden urge to wipe the tears away and hold her.

She shook her head and smiled, trying to regain her composure. Brushing the tears away, she looked up at him again. "Nothing, I just couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake the kids."

"You're a horrible liar." Ved leaned against the wall outside of his room.

Mackenzie gave a soft yet sad chuckle and leaned on the wall opposite him. She kept her eyes on her shoes. They were well worn, dirty, tattered and falling apart. She thought about what they looked like when they were new, they way they fit, how they felt.

"What?" Ved asked, watching as a different emotion flickered across her face.

"Shoes." She smiled looking up at him, before sliding down to the ground. She sat with her legs straight out, moving her feet back and forth, seeing the holes in her shoes better.

"Shoes?" Ved asked going and sitting next to her. He looked at her feet. She had different shoes, not the same one she had when she lived with them, not the ones she had when they lived in the city. The shoes she wore now looked more warn than either of the pairs before.

"We've been on the move for so long, I never stopped to think about shoes." She smiled at him. "I use to love shoes, trading, finding new pairs. But I have lived in these shoes for a year."

Ved watched her. He knew that she was trying to avoid the subject. She didn't want to answer him, and it annoyed him. But he knew that she wouldn't come right out and tell him, he knew the ways to break her down. "Why have you been on the move so much?"

Mackenzie sighed. She quickly pictured the many ways he would react to her telling the truth. The many outcomes of the various conversations they could have, and none of them seemed fitting to her. "We followed the Techno's all the way back to the city you started in."

"But it's been years, why didn't you settle anywhere, and trade your shoes?" Ved asked nodding to her shoes.

"Sooner or later I think there will be no more shoes. We will all wear them out, and without someone out there making new ones, there won't be any shoes. We will all walk around bear foot." Mackenzie smiled at him.

Ved reached for her hand without thought and messaged it, just like they had done before. His eyes focused on the wall in front of them.

Mackenzie looked down at her hand and over at Ved. She could feel the tears sting her eyes again, they posed a threat to fall, but she fought them back.

"What is going on?" Ved asked, still not looking at her. He didn't think he would be able to listen if he faced her.

Mackenzie sighed. She knew that if she tried to lie, he would be able to tell. "I'm leaving." She whispered.

"You just go here, why the rush to leave?" He wondered.

"It's better that way." Mackenzie wondered for the first time if she was saying that so she would believe it, or so everyone else would believe it.

"It will be hard convincing Honesty of that." Ved sighed. "She seems to think that she's safer here."

"She's not leaving, I am." Mackenzie said looking over at him. "I'm leaving."

Ved stopped, his whole body, even his heart seemed to stop for a second. He let his memories flash back to the beach, when he had left the city and ruined their lives. Mackenzie had been the one that sat there with him, she had wanted him to stay, and he knew now it was his turn to tell her to stay.

"Honesty understands, or I hope she will at least." Mackenzie sighed. "Her and Lane need to stay put for awhile, constantly being on the move isn't good for them, it's not the life my sister would have wanted for them."

"Do you think you leaving them would be the life she wanted?" Ved asked.

"I think she would want them to be safe, happy, and healthy. Those are the things that are important to me." Mackenzie looked back down at her feet.

"Leaving them will make them safe." Ved said quietly, more to himself. He was putting a puzzle together in his head, figuring out what it was she was keeping from him. "Why aren't they safe with you?"

Mackenzie looked back up at him quickly, and pulled her hand out of him lap. She twiddled her fingers together for a second and sighed. He was backing her into a corner, one she didn't want to be in. "They will be safer here, with you and Paul."

"Honesty told me the same thing, and she for some reason didn't think you were coming back yesterday." Ved said looking at her. "Tell me that truth, what is going on?"

"I made a few mistakes, and instead of putting everyone I love in danger, I am going to leave, and keep from hurting anyone." Mackenzie said looking at him. She wasn't sure if he would understand that. So many years ago he had brought the Techno's here, and set a whole string of events into motion that he didn't understand. She wasn't about to do the same thing by staying here. She could protect more people by leaving, than by staying.

"You don't think it will hurt them if you leave?" Ved asked, pointing towards the door that lead to the room Honesty and Lane. "Don't you think it will make things worse for them, harder, if you just leave? They need you, you are their mother."

"And as their mother, the only thing I want to do is keep them safe. I want to keep them happy." Mackenzie softly shouted back at him, tears falling. She knew that he wouldn't understand. "If I am here, I am putting them in danger, I am putting all of you in danger. And I can't live like that. The guilt will kill me."

"But you can live if you leave them?" Ved asked. He could tell how scared she was, how hard the idea of leaving them was for her. For a split second he could see the panic and fear in her eyes, the same one that use to be there when she couldn't see them.

"I will have to." Mackenzie said, as more tears came. She was crying harder now, unable to stop herself. "I have to leave, I have to go back, it's the best choice."

Ved could tell that she had backed herself into a corner, and she wasn't looking for other ways out, she had convinced herself that there was only one way, and it was to leave. She was always good at leaving. He reached up and wiped away her tears with his thumb before pulling her into a hug. He had been scared to touch her, scared to show how much she had hurt him when she left. But now all he wanted to do was to keep her there.

MWMWMWMWMW

"You know what's going on, don't you?" Ved asked coming up to his brother in the barn. It was mid-afternoon and everyone was busy going about their chores.

"What?" Jay asked looking down at his brother. "You know, this is amazing, you fixed the whole roof." He said looking up at the barn. He couldn't believe how grown up his little brother had become. "I started it, but I never got very far."

"Don't change the subject." Ved sighed. "She's leaving, what is she running from?"

"She asked me not to say anything." Jay said shaking his head.

"I think it's a little late to be keeping secrets. She's leaving Honesty and Lane here, what is going on?" Ved demanded. He was tired of everyone running around his questions.

Jay sighed and faced his brother. He knew that keeping this from him would only make it harder to get her to stay. If anyone could show her that she needed to stay here, it would be Ved, and Jay knew that. "She's running from Martin."

"Martin?" Ved asked. He knew the name, he wasn't sure why, but he knew it.

"M.Z., to be more exact." Jay looked at him. That was the name they used in the computer, the Techno name that was used to control everything. They had all figured it had something to do with Ram, none of them knew there was a stronger force driving them.

"I don't understand."

"Zoot, he was Zoot." Jay sighed. "She got tangled up with him, I won't share the details with anyone, but we've been running since then."

"Zoot, the city's Zoot?" Ved asked.

"Yeah. He's put a price on her head and Ebony's." Jay explained. He was happy that his brother wasn't looking for details, just the simple and plain facts.

"She can't run." Ved said simply.

"She thinks it's the only way to keep everyone safe." Jay sighed.

"I won't let her run." Ved said turning to go and find her.

"Ved, wait." Jay said stopping his brother. "There is more." He sighed, in the distances he could see Honesty playing with Zhara and Ebony. "Honesty is sick."

"What?" Ved asked looking over at the young girl.

"We don't know much, Mackenzie doesn't know much, but we know something is wrong." Jay explained everything. "She's dealing with a lot right now, and she doesn't want to alarm anyone, she doesn't want you to know."

"That's even more reason for her to stay." Ved said looking up at his brother. "She can't leave, not again."

"She doesn't want to stay here." Jay sighed looking down at him.

"Why, if it's safe here, why can't she stay?" Ved asked.

"She has her reasons." Jay sighed. "Think carefully before you say anything to her. Putting anything else on her right now, it will break her."

MWMWMWMWMWMWMWM

Ebony stood leaning against Jay, his arms wrapped tight around her waist. They were watching the sunset together. It was hard to believe that they had only been back for two days, it seemed like so much time had passed.

"Does it feel right, being here?" she asked.

"It feels right being anywhere with you." Jay replied kissing the top of her head.

"Don't give me that sweet crap, I need an honest answer." Ebony sighed.

Jay thought for a moment. "It does feel right, almost like we never left."

Ebony smiled and turned around in his arms. "I think we should stay, I think we should stay in the city."

"I know." Jay smiled at her.

"How?" Ebony wondered.

"You wouldn't have asked if you didn't want to stay." He kissed her forehead before reaching for her lips. "I think this would be a good place for us, for Zhara."

"And the mallrats?" Ebony asked.

Jay sighed, he knew that sooner or later they were going to have to deal with the mallrats, which meant dealing with Bray. He knew the time would come when they would have to face the facts, the fact that Jay might not be Zhara's father. "We will deal with them when we have to."

"And Mackenzie?" Ebony wondered.

"We will find a way to keep her from leaving." Jay smiled down at her. "Ved will help us."

"Ved?" Ebony asked pushing back. "He knows?" she could read it all over his face. "I can't believe you told him. He was the one person she didn't want dragged into this, and you told him. I can't believe you."

"If it means finding a way to keep her here, to keep us here, then I would tell the whole damn farm." Jay told her.

"She's going to be so mad at you." Ebony rolled her eyes.

"She can only be mad if she stays." Jay smiled at her. He waited a few more moments before bringing up the subject he wanted to talk about the most, or the person at least. "How did it feel to see Bray?" he wasn't normally the one to ask questions on this subject, he knew that Ebony would share what she wanted to with him, but he was still curious to know.

Ebony's first reaction was to pull away, to be angry, annoyed even that Jay would bring up that subject. But somewhere in her mind a little voice was reminding her that Jay cared about her, that he only wanted to know what she was thinking, and how she felt. "It was like I expected." She sighed, not wanting to start a fight over it. Jay had been so patient with her on the matter.

And seeing Bray truly had been what she had been expecting in her mind. It was a wave of feelings she had learned to push aside, feelings that didn't go away, or change, even when she could separate the truth from the lies. She had come to understand that even though they were living a lie for that year, they were living, and her and Bray had cared for each other, that wasn't something Ram could make up, just something he helped along.

"It's not discouraging you from wanting to stay." Jay smiled.

"I don't want to live at the hotel, if that's what you mean." Ebony looked up at him. She wasn't sure that she was ready to see Bray on a daily basis, but maybe over time she could. Just the idea of seeing him more made something inside of her dance with excitement.


End file.
